The Puppy and The Mayor
by sbrockz
Summary: AU. Emma and Regina don't hate each other. Henry is not Emma's son. Henry is only 5-year-old kid. Emma is not a sheriff of the town. NO FAIRY TALES. Summary is not clear but storyline is really interesting. Please give a try. A Romantic Humorous story.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own either the characters or storyline. Inspired by the Non-fiction novels I read.

_**I don't have a beta reader so all the grammatical mistakes are my faults. Please post reviews. It is like Glucose for me to write. Am open for anykind of comments.**_

* * *

**Chapter 1:**

Tired, edgy, and scared that she was never going to get her life on the happy track, Emma Swan dropped into the back booth of the diner and sagged against the red vinyl seat. "I could really use a drink."

Mary Margaret, in pressed slacks, just coming off from home to go to City Hall, snorted as she crawled into the booth as well. "It's eight in the morning."

"Hey, it's happy hour somewhere." This from their third musketeer, Ruby, who was wearing a white tee, a red short skirt, and kickass boots. The sexy-mistress ensemble was slutress by the bright red EAT ME apron she was wearing while waitressing. "Pick your poison."

"Actually, I was thinking hot chocolate with cinnamon," Emma said, fighting a yawn. She'd slept poorly, worrying about money. And paying bills. She doesn't have to worry about keeping a roof over her head… Thanks to Mary Margaret.

"Hot chocolate will up right up," Ruby said. "Be right back."

Four months ago, Emma had come to Boston from Florida for a Boston Police job, until she'd discovered that putting out for the abusive boss was part of the deal. Leaving the job on the table, she'd gotten into her beat-up VW bug and driven as far as the tank of gas could take her, ending up in the little Maine state beach town of Storybrooke.

She stayed at Bed and Breakfast owned by Ruby's granny in the beginning than Mary Margaret offered her guest bedroom till Emma gets settled. All these three girls met in the same diner when Emma was stuck there due to snowstorm with two strangers and spent a few scary hours soothing their nerves by eating a very large chocolate cake. So they continued their meetings with love of chocolate. It was important to have the right food for those meetings- Except these days, Mary and Ruby actually had love lives and Emma did not.

Ruby disappeared again and came back with a tray of steaming big, fluffy chocolate pancakes. "I love you," Emma said with great feeling as she took her first bite of delicious goodness.

"You going to tell us what's wrong, Emma?" Mary Margaret surprises Emma suddenly. "I didn't say anything was wrong."

"Okay spit it Missy…" Emma sighed. "I've applied to every PI firm, local law enforcement between Storybrooke and New York. There's not much out there."

"No nibbles?" Mary asked sympathetically, reaching for the syrup, her engagement ring catching the light.

Ruby shielded her eyes. "Jeez, Mary, stop waving that thing around—you're going to blind us. Couldn't David have found one smaller than a third world country? Or less sparkly?"

Mary ignored Ruby's comment, unwilling to be deterred. "Back to the nibbles," she said to Emma.

"Nothing, just a couple of possible interviews for next week, one in New York, one in Boston." Neither job was exactly Emma wanted. She still mad at herself for following that job offer to Boston, but she'd wanted a good solid position in the law enforcement—just not one that she could find in the _Kama Sutra._

"I don't want you to leave Storybrooke," Mary said. "But one of these interviews will work out for you. I know it."

Emma didn't necessarily want to leave Storybrooke either. She'd found the small, quirky town to be more welcoming than anywhere else she'd ever been, but staying wasn't really an option. She was never going to build her big career here.

"Yeah, none of those things are your real problem," Ruby said.

"No?" Emma asked. "What's my real problem?"

"You're not getting any."

Emma sagged at the pathetic truthfulness of this statement, a situation made all the worse by the fact that both Ruby and Mary were getting some.

Lots.

"What's today's job?" Ruby asked.

When Emma had first realized she needed to get a temporary job or stop eating. She'd purposely gone for something new. Something that didn't require wearing stuffy pencil skirts or closed-toe heels.

"I'm delivering birthday flowers to Mrs. Burland for her eightieth birthday. Then modeling at Lucille's art gallery for a drawing class."

"Modeling for an art class?" Mary asked. "Like… nude?"

"Today they're drawing hands."

"If I had your body," Ruby said, "I'd totally model nude. And charge a lot for it."

"Sounds like you're talking about something different than modeling." Mary said dryly.

Emma rolled her eyes at the both of them and stood. She dropped the last of her pocket money onto a table and left to make the floral deliveries.

* * *

Two hours later, Emma was just finishing the last of deliveries when her cell phone buzzed. She didn't recognize the incoming number, she answered. "Emma Swan," she said in her most professional tone.

"I'm calling about your flyer," a woman said. "I need a dog walker. Someone who's on time, responsible, and not a flake."

Her flyer? "A dog walker?" Emma repeated.

"Yes, and I'd need you to start today."

"Today … as in today?" she asked.

"Yes."

The woman, whoever she was, had a hell of a voice, low and little raspy, with a hint of impatience. Clearly she'd misdialed. And just as clearly, there was someone else in Storybrooke trying to drum up work for themselves.

"I could start today."

"Your flyer lists your qualifications, but not how long you've been doing this."

Emma had never had so much as a goldfish, but really, how hard could it be? Put the thing on a leash and walk right? "I'm a little new at the dog walking thing," she admitted.

"A little new?" the woman asked. "Or a lot new?"

"A lot."

There was a pause, as if she was considering hanging up. Emma rushed to fill the silence. "But I'm very diligent!" she said quickly. "I never leave a job unfinished." _Unless she was asked how she felt about giving blow jobs during lunch breaks…. _"And I'm completely reliable."

"The dog is actually a puppy," she said. "And new to our household. Not yet fully trained."

"No problem," Emma said, and crossed her fingers, hoping that was true.

"I left for work early this morning and won't be home until late tonight. I'd need you to walk the dog by lunchtime."

Yeah, she really had a hell of a voice. Low and authoritative, it made her want to snap to attention and salute her, but it was also…sexy. Wondering if the rest of her matched her voice, Emma made arrangements to go to her house in a couple of hours, where there'd be someone waiting to let her inside. Her payment of forty dollars cash would be left on the dining room table.

Forty bucks cash for walking a puppy…

Score.

* * *

At the appropriate time, she pulled up to the address she'd been given and sucked in a big breath. She hadn't caught the woman's name, but she lived in a very expensive area, on the northernmost part of town where the rocky beach stretched for endless miles like a gorgeous postcard for the Atlantic Northwest.

She was waiting on a great job with benefits to come along first.

Emma knocked on the door, and then caught sight of the Post-it note stuck on the glass panel.

"Dear Dog sitter,

I've left door unlocked for you. Please let yourself in. Oh, and if you could throw away this note and not let my sister know I left her house unlocked, that'd be great, thanks. Also, don't steal anything.

Maleficent"

Emma stood there chewing her bottom lip in rare indecision. She reminded herself that she was a smart in a crisis and could get through anything.

But walking into a perfect stranger's home seemed problematic, if not downright dangerous. What if a curious neighbor saw her and called the cops? She looked herself over. Enjoying her current freedom from business wear, she was in Jeans and tank-top with her red pleather jacket, her Payless-special ankle boots.

Regardless, what if this was a setup? What if a bad guy lived here, one who lured hungry, slightly desperate, act-now-think-later women inside to do heinous things to then? Okay, so maybe she'd been watching too many late-night marathons of _Criminal Minds _and _Law & Order_, but it could totally happen.

Then, from inside the depths of the house came a happy, high-pitched bark. And then another, which seemed to say, _"Hurry up, lady. I have to pee!" _

Ah, hell. In for a penny… Emma opened the front door and peered inside.

The living room was as stunning as the outside of the house. Wide-open spaces, done in dark wood and dark colors. The furniture was oversized and sparse on the beautiful, scarred hardwood floors.

As Emma stepped inside, the barking increased in volume, intermingled now with hopeful whining. Just past the kitchen was a laundry room, the doorway blocked by a toddler gate.

On the other side of the gate was a baby pig.

A baby pig that barked.

Okay, not a pig at all, but one of those dogs whose faces looked smashed in. The tiny body was mostly tan, the face black with crazy bugged-out eyes and a tongue that lolled out the side of its mouth.

"Hi," she said to him. _Her? _Hard to tell since its parts were so low as to scrape the ground along with its belly.

"Oh, there's no need for all that," Emma said, and opened the gate.

Mistake number one.

The dog/pig/alien streaked past her with astounding speed.

"Hey," she called. "Slow down."

But it didn't, and wow, those stumpy legs could really move. It snored with sheer delight as it made its mad getaway, and Emma was forced to rethink the pig theory. Also, the sex mystery was solved. From behind, she'd caught a glimpse of dangly bits.

It—he –ran circles around the couch, barking with merry enthusiasm.

"Hey," she said. "Hey you. We're going outside to walk."

The puppy dashed past her like lightning.

She was beginning to see why the job paid so much.

She retracted her steps to the laundry room and found a lease and collar hanging on the doorknob above the gate. Perfect. The collar was a manly blue and the tag said TANK.

Emma laughed out loud, and then searched for Tank. Turned out, Tank had worn off the excess energy and was up against the front door, panting.

"Good boy," Grace cooed, and came at him with his collar. "What a good boy."

He smiled at her.

_Aww. See?_

Compared to posing nude, this job is going to be a piece of cake. She was still mentally patting herself on the back, Tank squatted, hunched, and—

"No!" she cried. "Oh no, not inside!" She fumbled with the front door, which scared Tank and stopping mid-poo. He ran a few feet away from the front door and hunched again. He was quicker this time.

Emma staggered after him, eyes watering from the unholy smell. "Tank! Tank, wait!"

Tank didn't wait. He raced across the front yard and the street. He hit the beach.

"Oh, God," she cried. "No, Tank, _no_!"

But Tank dived into the first wave and vanished.

She dashed closer to the water. A wave hit her at hip level, knocking her back a step as she frantically searched for a bobbling head.

Nothing.

The next wave hit her at chest height.

Wave number three washed right over the top of her. She came up sputtering, shook her head to clear it, and then dived beneath the surface, desperate to find the puppy.

Nothing.

She pulled her phone from her purse and swore because it'd turned itself off.

She powered the phone on, gnawed on her lower lip, then called the woman; she waited until the woman picked up.

"Mayor Mills," came the low, deep sexy voice.

Mayor Mills. _Mayor Mills?_

"Hello?"She said."Anyone there?"

Oh, God. This was bad. Very bad. Because Emma knew her.

Well, okay, not really. She'd seen around in newspaper and TV and because she was good friends with Mary's and Ruby's boyfriends. She is Mary's BOSS. Mayor Regina Mills was thirty—four—which she knew because Mary had given her thirty-four chocolate cupcakes on her birthday last month, a joke because she was a health nut. She was a very sexy, hot built for modeling more than the City Hall, but she'd chosen the latter. Even after long day at work, her dark hair tousled and her dark eyes lined with exhaustion, she was drop-dead sexy. The few times that their gazes had locked, the air had snapped, crackled, and popped with a tension she hadn't felt with anyone in a far too long.

And she'd just killed Regina's puppy.

"Um, hi," Emma said. "This is Emma Swan. Your… dog walker. I might have just lost your puppy."

There was a single beat of stunned silence.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered.

More silence.

"Mayor Mills? Did you hear me?"

"Yes."

Emma waited for the rest of her response, desperately gripping the phone.

"You might have lost Tank," Regina repeated.

"Yes," Emma said softly, hating herself.

"You're sure."

"Yes." Emma looked around the beach.

"Well, then, I owe you a big, fat kiss."

Emma pulled her phone from her ear and stared at it, then brought it back. "No, I don't think you understand. I lost Tank. In the water."

Regina muttered something that she'd have sworn sounded like "I should be so lucky"

"What?" Emma asked.

"Nothing. I'm two minutes away. I got a break in the City hall and was coming home to make sure you showed."

"Well, of course I showed—"

But she'd disconnected.

"Why wouldn't I show?" Emma asked no one. She dropped her phone back into her pocket and got up. Two minutes. She had two minutes to find Tank.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own either the characters or storyline. Inspired by the fiction novel I read.

_**I don't have a beta reader so all the grammatical mistakes are my faults. Please post reviews. It is like Glucose for me to write. Am open for anykind of comments.**_

* * *

**Chapter 2:**

Regina's day had started at five that morning in the gym. Graham and David, her workout partners, spent the hour sparring in the ring, beating the shit out of each other while Regina did cardio.

By eight-thirty, she was in the City hall, attending budget meetings. From there, Regina had moved on to meetings with the local unions. By noon, Regina wasn't even halfway through her day and she'd already overloaded and on the edge of burnout. Now she was parking her car between her house and the beach to deal with Emma Swan.

Regina knew who Emma was. She'd seen her around. Blue eyes, a quick smile, blond hair, and an amazing body that could drive anyone right out of their mind if she gave it too much thought. As she walked, Regina caught sight of Emma in the water. She was facing the waves, her hands on her head in a distraught pose. Just as something dashed towards Regina in her peripheral vision.

Something small.

Something evil.

Something names Tank. Regina scooped up the sand-covered puppy and held him away from her. The pug wriggled intently, running in the air, trying to get closer to Regina. Finally giving up, Tank refocused his attention on the woman in the ocean.

"Oh, I see her," Regina said. "And what the hell have you done now?"

Emma was panicked. It was one thing to lose a job. It was another thing entirely to lose _the _job. Damn.

"Tank!" Emma yelled at the waves. "Tank?" Wading back in up to her waist, she turned in a full circle to rescan the beach, and then went utterly still.

Standing on the sand was a woman. Her tall, straight shoulders implied strength and control, and she was rocking a power suit and dark wraparound Ray-Bans.

Holding Emma's arch nemesis.

_Tank._

The puppy was panting happily away, and Emma could have sworn she was smiling. Forget the pig or alien theory—Tank was a rat. With a relief, Emma sat down on the beach. Suddenly a full on wave hit Emma on Face.

Emma was very busy fighting a full-facial, saltwater cavity wash when two strong hands gripped her arms and hauled her upright.

Mayor Mills, of course.

"I'm okay," Emma gasped.

"Sure?"

"Yes," Emma said, but Regina didn't let her go. "Really," Emma promised. "I'm good."

Regina nodded and continued to hold Emma against her.

Except… Regina wasn't holding her at all. Emma was clinging to her, soaking up the warmth and strength of Regina radiating through her now-wet designer clothes. Well, crap. Hiking her tank top down to her hips, she frog-marched out of the water as fast as she could so as to avoid being flattened by the next wave. She was completely wet from head to toes. Emma was feeling like she was some drowned kitten. But one glance down assured Emma that she didn't look like a drowned kitten. She looked like she was trying out for a wet T-shirt contest.

Yikes.

Emma decided not to look at herself again and made the mistake of looking instead at her rescuer. She was bare feet so she was shorter than Regina who was wearing those "fuck me" heels and Emma looks at the rescuer lips which was incredibly sexy.

"Arf!" Tank said from his perch, which was her purse, still lying on the sand. Nice. Emma gave herself a big mental thumbs-up for the "fun" that this job had been so far.

Regina nudged Tank off Emma's purse, and then attempted to brush the wet stand from the leather. But Tank was pulling the purse with more force to win. Regina nudged Tank again this time before Tank can come back to purse, Regina scooped Emma's purse. Regina was doing her damnedest to concentrate on the situation at hand, but that was proving difficult given the sight of Emma, her clothes plastered to her like a second skin. Half of her hair was in a topsy-turvy knot on top of her head, with the rest plastered to her face. The tip of her nose had gotten sunburned, and her mascara was smudged around her drown-in-me blue eyes.

And then there was Emma's mouth.

She had a full lower lip, one that warmed Regina up between her legs considerably and made her think about sex. Actually everything about Emma—the oh-shit expression on her face, the way she waved her hands like she was trying to explain herself without words, the delicate clinking of the myriad of thin silver bracelets she wore on her wrist—brought to mind sex.

Sex and chaos.

Pure, unadulterated, trouble-filled chaos.

Oh shit, Regina observed that Emma was wearing a white tank top and that wet top had a way of messing with anyone's brain. The nipples were hard because of cold and poking through Emma's tank top and making her want to bite them with her teeth and play with her hands.

Or maybe that was just Regina, and the fact that she hadn't had sex in so long she'd nearly forgotten how it felt.

Nearly.

The pulse at the base of Emma's slender neck was beating a little harder and faster than it should be. Emma's bra was white lace. God bless white lace. And Jesus, Regina really needed five minutes of shut-eye to clear the crazy thoughts or maybe she just needed to get laid.

Blowing out a breath, Regina scooped up the puppy that her sister had adopted with the sole purpose of sending Regina over the edge—which was working—and grabbed his shivering dog walker's hand. Regina led to her car.

"W-where are we g-going?"

"Nowhere." Regina cranked the engine and heater, twister around to extract her coat from the backseat.

"N-no, that's okay," Emma said. "I'll g-get it all wet and sandy."

"Put it on before your teeth chatter out of your head." Emma complied.

"I'm sorry I lost Tank."

The puppy perked up at his name and took a flying leap into the front seat, landing in Regina's lap. Sucking in a breath, Regina scooped Tank up and was promptly licked for her efforts.

"It's so great that you found him," Emma said.

"Yeah." Regina sighed in grim resignation, swiping the puppy drool off her chin. "_So _great."

"You warmed up now?" Regina asked.

"Arf."

Emma smiled in relief. The puppy was okay. "I guess that means yes."

"I meant you," Regina said.

"Oh!" Emma laughed. "Yes, thank you."

Regina just looked at her, and Emma realized she was waiting for Emma to get out. Right. Regina had to get back to work. Emma opened the door, and Regina did the same, getting out with Tank.

"Want me to put him away for you?" Emma asked, thinking it was the least she could do.

"I've got him."

Emma watched Regina headed towards her house. She was a beautiful woman, moving with such a grace. She was very fit, and very easy on the eyes. Emma wasn't often steered astray by bouts of lust, but she felt it stir within her now. But, the title Mayor before Regina name would keep her off Emma's list. "You said you'd kiss me if I lost Tank."

The words popped out of her unbidden, and she covered her mouth. Too late. Turning back, Regina shoved the sunglasses to the top of her head and lifted her perfect shaped left eyebrow, assessing look from dark brown eyes.

She looked exhausted. As if maybe she'd been working around the clock without sleep. "Ignore that," Emma said. "Sometime I have Tourette's."

Some of the tension went out of Regina's shoulders, and for a beat, her features softened into what might have been amusement. "You want me to kiss you?"

Oh boy. "You were happy I'd lost your puppy?"

Regina was looking like she was still thinking about smiling as she glanced down at Tank, tucked under her arm. "No. That would make me a bitch."

Right…

"And he's not _my _puppy." Regina said. "He belongs to my son, given to him by my evil sister, who I'm pretty sure bought him from the devil."

They both looked at Tank, who soaked up the attention as his due. He managed to roll in Regina's arms, over to his back, showing off his good parts with pride.

Such a guy. "If you don't want him, couldn't you just give him back?"

Regina laughed softly. "You don't have any kids, I take it."

Or dogs. "No."

"Trust me," Regina said. "I'm stuck with him."

"Arf," Tank said.

Regina shook her head, and then started toward the house again, her wet pencil skirt clinging to her long legs and very nice ass.

Apparently they were done here. "Uh, Mayor Mills?"

"Regina," she corrected.

"Regina, then."Still Regina continued walking so Emma cupped her hands around her mouth. "Should I come by your house at around the same time tomorrow, then?"

Regina laugh was either amused or horrified. Hard to tell. "No," she said.

Emma paused, but really, there was no way to mistake the single-syllable word. No was… well, _no_.

Which meant she was fired. Again. One would think she'd be good at that by now, but nope, she didn't feel good at it.

Emma felt like crap.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I don't own either the characters or storyline. Inspired by the fiction novel I read.

_**I don't have a beta reader so all the grammatical mistakes are my faults. Please post reviews. It is like Glucose for me to write. Am open for anykind of comments.**_

* * *

**Chapter 3:**

"This is all your fault," Regina told the wriggling puppy as she walked toward her house.

Tank didn't give a shit. He'd caught sight of a butterfly and was growling ferociously, struggling maniacally to get free so he could attack.

Tank was the Antichrist.

"Look, we all know you think you're a badass, but that butterfly could kick your ass with one wing tied behind its back," Regina told him, tightening her grip as she used her other hand to reach into her purse for her phone.

Her wet phone, which—perfect—was fried. "You could have kept running for the hills," she said. "Or at least stayed 'lost' long enough to get me that kiss."

Tank stretched his nonexistent neck and oversized pug head so he could lick Regina's chin again.

"Yeah, yeah." It didn't matter. Emma Swan was a beautiful woman, but Regina didn't have time to sleep, much less time to give to anyone.

She let herself into her house, trailing sea water and sand with her. No doubt she'd get a dire text from Rose, her pissy housekeeper, but her phone was dead.

Silver lining.

Henry had started kindergarten this week, so the house was void of the whoosh, vrrmm-whoosh of Henry's ever-present Avengers gift. Maleficent should be in class—_should _being the operative word.

Moving toward the kitchen to dump Tank, Regina stopped short in surprise.

Shit.

_Literally._

Grinding her teeth into powder, Regina lifter her stiletto, studied the bottom of it, and then dangled Tank at eyed level. "Have you ever heard of mince meat?"

Tank tried to lick her nose.

"_Not cool, _dog." Regina dealt with the mess. If she left it for Rose, she'd quit for sure since she'd already made it clear that nothing puppy related was on her plate.

Regina caught sight of the forty bucks still on the kitchen table. Hell. Emma hadn't taken the money. And she needed it, too.

Regina stripped out of her wet clothes in the laundry room and slid Tank a long look. Unconcerned, Tank was snuffling around in his bed, turning his fat, little puppy body in three tight circles before plopping down with a snort and closing his eyes. Apparently he was satisfied with the destruction he'd left in his wake.

Definitely the Antichrist.

The house phone was ringing, probably because her cell was no longer working. She grabbed fresh set of her designer clothes from the closet and headed for the door. Later. She'd deal with it later.

This is how she survived the daily insanity of her life, using her unique ability to prioritize and organize according to importance. Taking care of her family—important.

Regina works as the Perfect Mayor a small town can have and later the day she takes care of her dad's medical practice. Her dad had been gone five years and Regina still running all the responsibilities of it. All the work made for a great public service, but it was hell on her home life.

Hell on Henry.

Something had to give, and soon. Probably Regina's own sanity, but for now, she headed back to the City Hall only to be called into a meeting with State Department.

It was eight-thirty by the time he got home that night—half an hour past Henry's bedtime. Last night, the five-year-old had been in bed at this time, asleep on his belly, legs curled under him, butt in the air, his chubby baby face smashed into his pillow. He'd clearly gone to bed directly from the bath because his dark hair had been sticking up in tuffs, the same way Regina's always did when she didn't comb it.

Henry's pj's had been—big surprise—Avengers, and Regina had kneeled by the kid's bed to stroke back the perpetually unruly hair. Henry had stirred, and then…

Barked.

He'd been barking ever since Maleficent had brought Tank home. It was a passing phase.

Or so Regina desperately hoped.

Henry was the spitting image of Regina, but he had his father's imagination and his temperament to boot. Regina could read that temperament in every line of her son's carefree body as he slept with wild abandonment. She wondered if Daniel would be able to see it. But of course he couldn't, because to see it, he'd have to actually see Henry, something he hadn't attempted in years.

Michael, Maleficent's latest and hopefully soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend, was sitting on the half wall between the dining room and living room eyeballing his cell phone.

Maleficent came into sight, hard to believe someone so tiny could move so fast, but Regina knew better than to underestimate her twenty-one-year-old sister.

On her back, squealing with sheer joy and possibly also terror, was Regina's mini-me—not asleep, nowhere close. With his eyes lit with excitement, cheeks ruddy from exertion, Henry was smiling from ear to ear.

Tank was right on their heels—or wheels in this case—barking with wild abandoned delight, following as fast as his short little legs could take him.

For a brief second, Regina stood there rooted to the spot by a deep, undefined ache in her chest, which vanished in an instant as Maleficent took a corner far too tight, wobbled, and tipped over, sending Henry flying.

"Damn," Michael said, and clicked something on his phone with his thumb.

The idiot had been timing the event.

Regina rushed past him to the crumpled heap of limbs. "Don't move," she ordered Maleficent, pulling Henry off her. She turned Henry in her arms and took in the face that was like her own, except free of the exhaustion and cynicism that dogged Regina's every breath.

Henry grinned and threw his arms around Regina's neck in greeting. The kid's moods were pure and mercurial. She hugged Henry back hard, and Henry barked.

Letting out a breath, Regina set him aside to lean over Maleficent who hadn't moved. Gently she pushed the damp hair from Maleficent sweaty brow. "Talk to me."

She opened her eyes and laughed outright. "That was sweet," she said.

Regina sat back on her heels and scrubbed a hand over her face. "Henry should be in bed, Mal. And you could have hurt yourself."

"Oh, relax," she muttered after Regina stood, hands over hips. She tugged on Henry's ear. "Hey Handsome. Go get ready for bed, 'k?"

"Arf-arf," Henry said, turned to the hallway.

Regina caught him by the back of his Avengers sweatshirt. "You use soap and water today?"

"Arf," Henry said slowly, all hurt puppy face.

"Go on. I'll be right there."

Henry went from sad to excited in a single heartbeat, because if Regina was coming, too, it meant a story. And for a moment, Henry looked young, so fucking painfully young, that Regina's chest hurt again.

"Pick out a book," she said.

"Arf!"

Regina gave Michael a look, and the guy made himself scarce. Michael might be a complete loser but he was a smart loser.

Maleficent have the haunting beauty of Snow White and the temperament of Cruella de Vil.

"If you can't get him to bed on time," Regina began, "just tell me. I'll come home and do it myself."

"Oh good," Maleficent said with an impressive eye roll. "You still have the stick up your ass." She headed to the door grabbing her purse.

"You're still mad about me nixing your Europe trip." Regina guessed.

"Give the woman an A-plus." She snatched her jacket off the hook.

"Always knew you were smart, Everyone say so. They say, _'Oh, Mayor Mills' so brilliant, so sharp.'_" She turned away. "Shame it doesn't run in the family."

"No one says that ," Regina said.

"They think it."

"So prove them wrong," Regina said.

Mal shrugged. "Too much work."

"How does Michael have the money for Europe?"

"He doesn't. My trust fund money."

Oh hell no. _"No."_

"I'm going out," Maleficent said, both ignoring what Regina said and the subject since it's didn't suit her.

"Where?" Regina asked.

"Out."

Jesus. Like pulling teeth. "Fine. Be back by midnight."

"You're not Mom and Dad, Gina. And I'm not sixteen anymore. Don't wait up."

Great. "Midnight, Mal."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Wake me up when you're home."

Maleficent rolled her eyes again and yelled for Michael, who appeared from the kitchen eating a sandwich. He slid Regina a stoner-lazy smirk.

Nice. Regina shut the door and ground her teeth. Regina had been twenty-eight, a brand-new mother from her first and only one-night stand and first year out of elections when it'd happened. Overnight she'd lost her parents and had suddenly become responsible for a headstrong, angry teenager along with her infant son.

She locked up, flipped off the kitchen and living room lights, and found Henry jumping on his bed with his Captain America shield, the iridescent thing in the air.

Regina caught him in midleap and swung him upside down, to Henry's screams of delight. Then Regina tossed him onto the bed and crawled in after him.

Henry had a few books on his pillow. He was into superheroes, cars, trains…anything with noise, really. He snuggled up close and set his head on Regina's shoulder, pointing to the top book. The Berenstain Bears. The cover showed the entire family, but Henry stroked his finger over the papa bear.

He wanted his papa bear.

Like a knife to the heart. "Henry."

"You remember what I told you, right? About your dad? That he had something really important to do, but that he'd be here with you if he could?"

Henry stared at her with those huge, melting chocolate—brown eyes and nodded.

Leaning in, she pressed a kiss to Henry's forehead and then signed. "You forgot the soap."

"Arf."

Regina woke somewhere near dawn, dreaming about being smothered. Her feet were numb from hanging off as she realized she'd fallen asleep in Henry's bed. The _Berenstain Bears_ book was stuck to her face. Wincing at her sore bones, she shifted, and at the movement, Tank snuffled and stretched.

And _FARTED._

The bedroom was instantly stink-bombed. "Jesus Christ, dog, you smell like a barn."

Tank just gave her a pug grin.

Regina shook her head and eased out of the bed, pulling the covers up over Henry, who was sleeping like he did everything in life—with 100 percent total abandonment.

Envying him that, Regina showered and went downstairs.

Rose was cleaning the kitchen and making Henry's lunch.

"I need you to walk Thank today," she said. "Twice. Once midmorning and once in the afternoon. He sure as hell better learn to hold it that long if he wants to live."

Rose carefully closed Henry's Avengers lunch box. "No," she said.

"Okay, okay, I'm only kidding. I'm not going to actually kill him." _Probably._

"No, I won't walk that dog." _Rose was four and a half feet tall, Italian, complete with accent and snapping black eyes that could slay one alive. The housekeeper also possessed the baffling ability to organize Regina's place so it looked like humans lived there instead of a pack of wild animals. She didn't cook, though. And she didn't mother. The sole reason she made Henry's lunch was because Henry was the only one in the house she actually liked. _" I do not care for that dog," Rose said. "He licks me."

"He's a puppy." Regina said. "That's what puppies do."

"He's a nightmare."

Well, she had her there.

**Sorry, there is no Emma in this chapter but I promise you down the way you will see a lot of SWAN QUEEN. I want to give importance to every character in this story and my own ideas. Yes am using Jill Shalvis book as inspiration. I have my own pinch of creation in this story. If you are not interested to read leave it alone but don't insult here. Thank you.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I don't own either the characters or storyline. Inspired by the Jill Shalvis fiction novel I read.

**_I don't have a beta reader so all the grammatical mistakes are my faults. Please post reviews. It is like Glucose for me to write. Am open for any kind of comments._**

* * *

**Chapter 4:**

Half an hour later, Regina had gotten Henry onto the School bus, then driven to the office, still having no idea what she was going to do about the damn dog. She would have thumbed through her contact list, except she hadn't replaced her phone yet.

She could rehire Emma. Emma needed the money but hiring her again would involve being sucked into her sexy vortex. Hell. She left her car, and instead of heading to her office, she crossed the small side beside her office then walked around to the old building, which was now the Administration office, run by Mary Margaret.

Mary smiled when Regina entered. "Hello Mayor Mills. Tell me you're here to give me my vacation days."

"No. Don't you already applied for the vacation days and I signed your letter."

"I didn't receive any confirmation letter."

Shit. "Probably I left it on my desk." Regina said. "But I'll make sure I drop it with my secretary today."

"Thanks," Mary said gratefully. "But if you're not here to give the letter, what can I do for you?"

"I need to locate Emma."

Mary arched a brow. "Emma?"

"I need her dog walking services again."

"But you fired her yesterday."

Regina grimaced. Mary was an amazing employee, the fiancée of one of her closet friends, and she was as fierce as a mother about the people she cares about—Emma being one of those people. "Yeah, I might have been hasty on that," Regina said.

Mary studied her. "She's something, isn't she?"

Yes. Yes, Emma was something all right. "So, do you have her number? My phone died in the ocean."

"Yes, I have her number."

She waited but Mary didn't give it to her. She looked at her watch. "Mary."

"You have to promise to apologize for hurting her feelings yesterday."

"I didn't hurt her feelings."

Mary just gave her a long look.

"Fine," Regina said. "I'll apologize for hurting her feelings. Just tell me where to find her."

"I'm sorry, I can't. It's against the code."

"The code?"

"Yeah, the code. Listen, if one of your friends had gotten hurt by a girl, and then that girl wanted his phone number from you, would you give it out?"

"Mary, you're sleeping with one of my friends every night. Why would I give some girl David's number?"

Mary sighed. "None of this matters right now anyways. Emma isn't going to answer her phone. She's working."

"Walking more dogs into the ocean?"

"Okay, that was your crazy puppy's fault, and no, it's Wednesday morning, so she's at Lucille art class at the gallery."

"Thanks." Regina said and turned back. "Can you call my office and tell them I'm running half an hour behind, and tell my secretary had picked me up a replacement phone yet?"

"It'll cost you."

"Let me guess," Regina said. "Chocolate cake?"

Mary smiled sweetly. "From the B and B, please."

"Noted." Regina left from there and drove through Storybrooke, past pier to Lucille's art gallery.

A bell above her head chimed when she stepped inside a house, and Lucille pokes her head out of a room down the hall.

"Mayor Mills!" she said, beaming in the delight at the sight of her, patting her bun as if to make sure still stacked on the top of her head.

"Are you here to join our drawing class?"

"No, I need to speak to one of your students."

"Uh-oh. Do you think Mrs. Tyler's having another heart attack?"

Christ, She hoped not. "Not Mrs. Tyler."

"I'm looking for Emma Swan." Regina added.

Lucille blinked in surprise. "Well, honey, why didn't you say so? Sure, you can speak to her, but she's not one of my students. She's our model."

"Your model?"

"Yes, today we're drawing the nude form."

Not much surprised Regina. Actually, nothing surprised Regina. But this did. "Emma is the nude model?"

"Learning to sketch the nude human form is standard practice for a beginning drawing class," Lucille added. "We always hire a nude model. Last season I did it myself."

While Regina was adjusting to the horror of that, Lucille went on. "The female form is the most beautiful form on earth. Very natural." Regina knows really well about Female form, She realized she was more interested in _Female form _after her first and only one night stand with a guy. But it knocked her up but gave an amazing gift _Henry _which she will never regret about. From that day Regina she was more and only interested in _female form. _Coming back to present when Lucille pushed the studio door open, revealing Emma on a pedestal, a robe pooled at her feet, her body twisted into some ballerina pose. Her blond hair was loose, wavy to her shoulders, shining like silk, and her limbs bare and toned.

She wasn't nude. At least not completely. She was wearing one of those long gimmick T-shirts so common in beach shops, with the form of a very curvaceous woman on it in a skimpy string bikini.

Lucille grinned at her. "She was feeling a little shy."

Holding her pose, Emma narrowed her eyes on Regina. "What are you doing here?"

"She came to see you," Lucille said.

Emma's eyes narrowed a little bit more. "You draw?"

"Not even a little bit," Regina said. Wishing she did. Emma should have looked ridiculous. She had a knockout body, but it was completely covered up, from chin to shin, in that oversized shirt. Her feet were bare, her toenails painted pink.

She didn't look ridiculous at all. She looked the opposite of ridiculous. In fact, she looked good enough to gobble up with a spoon. Without a spoon. Regina was thinking her tongue would work.. Yum Yum

"Why are you here?" Emma asked.

"My dog needs a dog walked today."

Not saying a word or moving a single muscle. Emma managed to say no. It was all in the eyes.

She had amazing eyes.

"You're a dog walker?" Lucille asked Emma in surprise.

"No," she said.

This was news to Regina. "Your flyer said you were an 'experienced dog walker.'"

Emma winced at this, then bit her lower lip as she looked away.

"The flyer isn't mine," she admitted to Regina. "you called the wrong number."

"I called the wrong number." Regina absorbed this a minute. "And yet you were willing to go walk for a perfect stranger who needed her dog walked?"

"Hey, don't blame me. You were the one willing to hire a perfect stranger."

Unbelievable. "You had references on that flyer!"

"Did you actually call any of them?" she asked.

"So you'd go work for anyone who called?" Regina hated that Emma needed work that badly. "Jesus, Emma, I could have been a psycho."

"Or mean," Emma pointed out.

"I wasn't mean."

Emma expression said she thought otherwise. And then there was another thing. The T-shirt. It was hard to get past the huge cartoon breasts, stuffed into that cartoon itty-bitty bikini. And Regina couldn't help but wonder.

What was she wearing beneath the T-shirt?

Regina dipped her head and studied her heels for a long moment, until the desire to jump on Emma's bones was controlled.

"Fine," Regina said, looking up at Emma again. "I'm sorry I didn't keep you on as my dog walker."

"And yet you're not being sorry for being mean."

"Look," Emma added, still holding her pose. "I nearly lost your dog. You had to come into the ocean to save me, and I got you all wet. I was a mess and a terrible dog walker. I get it."

"You weren't that terrible."

"Are you just saying that so I'll come back?"

"Please," Regina said.

Everyone in the room was following this conversation like they were at Wimbledon in the final match, but all eyes had landed on Emma now, waiting breathlessly for her answer.

"You weren't exactly friendly," Emma finally said,

Regina drew a breath, remembering what Mary had told her, that she'd hurt Emma's feelings.

"You're right. I wasn't friendly. I was overworked, stressed, and in a hurry. I'm sorry." Regina stated.

"Sorry, or desperate?"

Desperate? Hell no. Emma was the desperate one. But if Regina said so, she'd lose the tentative ground she'd just made. So she pulled out her ace in the hole. "I'll double the pay."

This got Emma's attention enough to make her break the pose. Hell, it got everyone's attention.

Emma didn't react, and Regina had the feeling that she would say 'No', "Triple the pay," Regina said. No more messing around. She was already late, and she was sinking fast.

Emma smiled, and it was a great smile. So great that Regina felt something twinge inside her, something she'd thought dead. "What's so funny?" Regina asked.

"Triple the pay?"

"Yeah. Problem?"

Several of the people behind Regina snorted, the rest nodded in agreement, all of it adding up to Regina being clueless.

"I'd have done it for that kiss you promised me," Emma said.

"Aw." Lucille clapped her hands together in utter delight. "Go ahead, then," she whispered. "Pay her."

Regina shook her head. "I have to withdraw money—"

"Not money, Mayor Mills. The girl said she'd do it for a kiss."

Regina let out a nervous laugh. "Lucille, she was just kidding."

Lucille studied Emma, then slowly shook her head. "No, I don't think she was kidding."

Emma stepped down off the pedestal. "It's okay, Lucille," she said, still looking at Regina, her mouth curving slow and sensuous. "We're scaring her. Of course Mayor Mills doesn't have to kiss me to get me to walk her dog." Emma shrugged at Regina, like _Hey, this isn't my doing._

Bullshit it wasn't Emma doing. But Emma had such pretty eyes, Regina thought insanely. Real pretty.

Pride stinging just a little bit, feeling like Regina had something to prove—though she wasn't quite sure what—she stepped close to Emma and bent her head little. As Emma was standing on her bare feet and Regina with her "fuck me" heels is slightly taller than Emma. Regina's gaze searching Emma's for a sign that she was being pushed into this.

Emma's smile broadened.

"You could put a stop to this," Regina said softly, and unbelievably, Emma made the sound of a chicken. Regina straightened and narrowed her eyes. "What does _that_ mean?"

"You know what it means."

Infuriating.

And a little bit of a turn-on. But fuck it, she was done thinking. The crazy cutie wanted a kiss, and hell if she'd try to talk Emma out of it. So Regina leaned in and brushed her ruby red lips over Emma's. Peach. Emma's lip gloss was peach, and it was more delicious than anything Regina could remember.

So was the kiss, chaste as it was, which rocked her world right off.

**I have projected Mary Margaret character more as Snow(Fierce and Caring). She doesn't think twice to give her opinion. I want to give importance to every character in this story and my own ideas. Yes I am using Jill Shalvis book as inspiration. I have my own pinch of creation in this story. If you are not interested to read the story, leave it alone but don't insult here. THIS IS A AU STORY… I created Regina being Gay and Mayor.. Inspired by real life Gay Politicans.. Regina is not dark or twisty.. I presented her more like "Regina prior to Daniel's death", Feels bad if she hurts someone. Emma is as she is always, Fierce and Sassy. More interesting chapters to come. Please do review. It really encourages.**

**I may not have a quick update this coming week, As I work full-time but I will try my level best to update at least alternate day. Thank you.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I don't own either the characters or storyline. Inspired by the Jill Shalvis fiction novel I read.

**_I don't have a beta reader so all the grammatical mistakes are my faults. Please post reviews. It is like Glucose for me to write. Am open for any kind of comments._**

* * *

**Chapter 5:**

Emma closed her eyes to enjoy the feel of Regina's mouth on hers. Regina's lips were soft and have a velvety feeling. Yep, just as heavenly as she dreamed of. Maybe even more so. Both of them felt the spark in the touch.

Actually, Emma felt a full fireworks display. She was about to use the tongue to ask permission, Regina pulled back, Emma opened her eyes to Regina's chocolate brown ones and caught her own flash of surprise before Regina masked it.

"We have a deal, then," Regina said. "For today."

Regina hadn't worded it as a question, of course, _control freak. _But Regina looked even more exhausted today than she had yesterday, and that both intrigued and worried Emma. She was extremely aware of other person proximity that Regina wasn't in wet skirt today. She wore slacks and white button-up shirt both casual but expensive-looking, like she'd walked right out of a ramp walk.

But Emma was even more aware that the entire art class was watching them.

Avidly.

Emma's phone buzzed. The incoming text was from Lucille: _Honey, I don't mean to rush you but it's rumored that the good Mayor has got the best hands in all of Storybrooke. Go for it._

Emma lifted her head and sent Lucille a look. Lucille smiled innocently.

Emma rolled her eyes and nodded to Regina. "Fine. We have a deal."

Regina handed Emma a key to her house and left.

Emma watched her go, looking at the tight ass in the slacks and Emma started thinking that Regina's hands weren't even her best part. "Excuse me a minute," she said to the class, before running to catch up with Regina in the hall.

Clicking on the heels on the floor stopped and Regina turned to face her, and Emma shook her head, her body still humming from Regina's kiss. "What was that?" Emma finally managed. "Back there."

"You know what it was."

Yeah. Yeah, she did. Chemistry. Holy Toledo, some damn hot chemistry. "But it shouldn't be like this, not between us." Emma said. "You know I never kissed a girl." That was just a silly explanation Emma was giving but they were night and day. Oil and water. Regina might not know it, but Emma did. "It was a fluke." That was all Emma could think, that it was complete fluke. But Regina's eyes darkened, and in response, Emma's nipples got hard. "Okay, so maybe not," Emma muttered and crossed her arms over herself and her fake triple Ds.

Regina stepped closer, her voice low. "I'd prove it to you, but I'm not into kissing by committee." Emma looked over and gave them the "shoo" signal, and they vanished.

"Impressive," Regina said. "Be sure to use that level of authority on Tank today and try to avoid another swim."

"I really thought he was in the water."

"He likes to play hide-and-seek."

"Good to know." And Emma still had to take that crazy puppy out for another walk…

"Interesting T-shirt," Regina said.

Emma looked down at herself, eternally gratefully she is not completely nude. "It's not as good as the real thing, but as it turns out, I'm pretty selective about who sees the real thing."

Regina's smile softened. "Good to know."

"Let me know if you have any trouble today," Regina added.

"For what you're paying me, there'll be no trouble."

Emma wasn't in Storybrooke to make a connection with anyone who she knew wasn't her type. She was looking for fun, that was it, and in spite of Regina being sex-on-legs, she wasn't sure Regina had a lot of fun in her.

A few hours later, Emma headed to Regina's house. As she parked, she noticed she had an unread text from Mary.

_"Hey, Head's up. The Mayor just came by and coerced me into telling her where you were. I folded like a cheap suitcase. Sorry, but she's hard to say no to. Don't be mad. I owe you hot chocolate."_

Yeah, an entire batch. Emma shook her head and let herself into Regina's house without incident.

She avoided the beach entirely, instead setting Tank down to walk alongside the quiet street. Tank sniffed every single rock, every last tree, and then finally chose to spot to hunch and do his business.

Emma scooped Tank back up. "I hope you're done."

Tank snorted and licked her chin.

Emma took Tank back to the house, securing him in the laundry room. As she turned to the door, she nearly clashed with a young woman. She was twentyish, petite, blonde-haired, her eyes were dark and alluring as the Mayor she had to be related to.

"Maleficent," she said, introducing herself. "The crazy sister. And you must be the nude girl she kissed."

Emma chocked. "What?"

"Yeah, you haven't seen?" Emma pulled her phone from the pocket and thumbed a few buttons, then turned the screen to Emma.

It was Storybrooke's Facebook page, and a picture of Emma in the bikini T-shirt that was going to haunt her for the rest of her damn life. And her lips were indeed connected to Regina's. The kiss had lasted only a heartbeat, but one would never know it by the picture, which had been captured at just the right nanosecond, showing Emma leaning into Regina with her entire body, both hands on Regina's hips.

She hadn't realized she'd touched Regina so intimately, but now she could remember the heat radiating through Regina's shirt and she'd smelled delicious.

But God, had she really looked at her so adoringly?

Regina hadn't been so innocent either. She had one hand cupping Emma's jaw, her thumb clearly stroking her skin in a way that seemed both tender and yet somehow outrageously sexy.

"Cozy," Maleficent said dryly.

"It's not what it looks like," Emma said.

"No?" Maleficent asked, "Because it looks like you're kissing. You're not kissing?"

"Okay, so we're kissing, but that's only because the day before she'd kiss me if I lost the dog and then.." Emma trailed off.

Maleficent arched a brow.

Emma sighed. "Well, this is embarrassing. We're not.. I mean, she and I aren't—"

"Oh, no worries." Maleficent said. "I know you're not her girl toy. She wouldn't have hired you if you were."

"Girl toy?"

"Yeah, Regina doesn't bring her women home."

Well ouch. "Okay, good." _Great._

"Hang on," Mal said. "I just want to share the link with everyone I know... There. God, how I love it when she does something stupid. It's so rare, you know? And then when she finally does it, she really does it right."

Mal unlocked the baby gate and Tank took off right on his heels, barking so hard his back legs kept coming off the floor. Quite the feat, given that his belly sung so low.

A young boy came tearing into the kitchen. He was maybe five, with dark hair that definitely hadn't seen a brush that morning, and his melting, dark chocolate eyes matched Mayor Regina Mills'.

"Henry," Mal said. "You're going to stay here with Emma. I'll be back in an hour."

"Wait.. what?" Emma shook her head. "No, I'm just the dog babysitter."

"Yeah?" Maleficent asked. "Are you babysitting the dog right now?"

"Well, yeah, but—" Crap. "Hey" Emma said. "No chewing on that."

Tank kept chewing. Emma went over there and pried him loose but she was too late.

"Wait a minute." Emma turned towards Maleficent.

"No worries, he's easy. The regular nanny, Katy, ditched Henry today, so we picked him up from school, but I've got things to do, so…"

"We?"

"Gotta go," Maleficent said, and walked out.

"But.." But nothing. Maleficent was gone, gone, gone. Emma looked at Henry.

"Hi," Emma said.

"Arf," he said.

"Arf," Tank said, dragging a running shoe that was bigger than himself.

It was going to be a long hour.

Emma went towards the table and stared at the stack of twenties underneath a sticky note that had Emma written with amazing handwriting scrawled across it in bold print. She picked up the money and started counting. Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty… _One hundred and sixty bucks. _It took her a minute to figure it out—forty for yesterday, triple that for today.

It was ridiculous, of course, and yet… the things she could do with hundred and sixty bucks. Staring at it longingly, she thought of her overloaded credit card and weekly expenses. She needs to move out of Mary's apartment.

Shaking her head, she pocketed forty. Nothing for yesterday since she'd screwed up, and forty for today. Because she wouldn't screw today up.

Now that she had a moment of privacy, she pulled out her cell phone and hit Regina's number to fill her in.

She picked up, sounding harried. "Mayor Mills."

Emma brain stuttered at the sound of her low voice, the same low voice that had prompted her into a moment of insanity earlier. That kiss…"One hundred and sixty bucks?" she said in disbelief.

There was a beat of silence. "It's Emma," she said, trying for calm efficiency.

"You needed the money," Regina said. "Right?"

"Well, yes," she admitted reluctantly. "But a hundred and sixty dollars?"

"It's what we agreed on, triple yesterday's pay."

"I didn't mean to accept that. The kiss was my payment." The crazy, wild kiss. The crazy, wild, wonderful kiss. Emma turned back to the door.

It was locked. _Uh-oh_

"What?" Regina asked.

Had Emma said that out loud?

"Nothing." She peered into the window, thankful that shades on it were open, but didn't see Henry in the kitchen.

"Well, nothing except your sister brought Henry home, and I'm watching him for her for an hour or so."

"Mal left you in charge of Henry?"

"I guess your nanny got sick, and Maleficent's boyfriend picked Henry up from school."

And it wasn't even the worst bit of news she had to tell Regina. That honor belonged to the facebook photo, which she decided Regina didn't need to know about right now. But she needs to tell before it gets into a newspaper. Wow! She is fucked. "It's only for an hour," Emma said. "How much can happen in an hour?" Emma tried the door again. Still locked. She knocked.

"I have to go," Emma said.

"Don't even think about it. What's wrong?" Regina asked.

Oh, so many, many things. Tank was going to town on the trash, inhaling whatever he could get at. Henry was nowhere in sight.

Emma whirled around, searching for a doormat. So where would they hide a key?

"Emma."

Emma gave up. "Okay, where is it?" she asked Regina. "Where do you hide the key for the stupid people who get locked out?"

"You got locked out?"

"No, I'm just asking for the stupid people."

"Where's Henry?"

Emma sighed. "He's in the kitchen."

"Go to the second planter from the porch," Regina instructed. "Reach into the sprinkler value box."

"Henry!" Emma called. "Henry don't leave the kitchen. Henry?"

"Hurry Emma," Regina said in her ear.

She rushed to the second planter. "Sorry. You there?"

Nothing. She smacked her phone on her thigh and tried again. "Regina?"

"Yeah. Do you see the key? It's in the metal hide-a-key."

"Emma?"

"Yeah?" Emma whispered.

"There's a pool out back," Regina said. "You can't get to it from side yard where you are. Henry can swim, but…"

Oh, God. The image of Henry running outside and into the pool on his own was too awful to bear. She pulled out the hide-a-key.

She ran to the back door and let herself in, racing through the kitchen, skidding to a halt in the living room, where Henry was standing on the couch.

Emma nearly collapsed with relief.

"Well, that was a fun fire drill."

"Henry?" Regina asked in her ear.

"All in one piece." She sank to the couch and put her head between her knees.

"Your house is a little crazy, Madame Mayor."

"You much feel right at home, then."

Emma heard herself let out a weak laugh. "Hey, you're the crazy one." She figured the money in her pocket. "You can't go around paying people so much money for menial work. They'll take advantage of you."

"I'm not easy to take advantage of."

Okay, so that was undoubtedly true, Emma thought. "But—"

"Did you lose Tank?"

_Only for a minute… _"No."

"Did he shit in the house?"

"No."

"Then you're worth every penny." Regina assured her.

"Listen, I'm sorry about Mal. I'll get there as soon as I can."

"But—"

But nothing. Regina was gone.

She lifted her head and found Henry standing there, a lock of dark hair falling across his forehead, a squirming Tank in the other.

Henry wrinkled his nose like something was stinky, then hastily set Tank down.

The puppy was panting, and his stomach looked uncomfortably full. _Uh-oh. _

"Tank," Emma said, trying to get him outside.

Too late. Tank hunched over and horked up all the trash he'd eaten.

On her feet.

"Arf," Tank said, looking like he felt all better.

"Arf," Henry said.

**Yes I am using Jill Shalvis book as inspiration. I have my own pinch of creation in this story. If you are not interested to read leave it alone but don't insult here. THIS IS A AU… I created Regina being Gay and Mayor.. Inspired by the NYC Mayor.. Regina is not dark and twisty.. I presented her more like "Regina prior to Daniel's death" and she feels bad if she hurts someone. Emma is as she is always, Fierce and Sassy. More interesting chapters to come. Please do review. It really encourages.**

**I may not have a quick update, As I work full-time but I will try my level best to update at least alternate day. Thank you.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I don't own either the characters or storyline. Inspired by the Jill Shalvis fiction novel I read.

**_I don't have a beta reader so all the grammatical mistakes are my faults. Please post reviews._**

**_AUTHOR NOTE: AM SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE... WAS BUSY WITH THE WORK.. I PROMISE I WILL TRY TO UPDATE WITHIN EVERY TWO DAYS._**

**_Thank you for the all the reviews, you guys are amazing. Please do review for the update. Your reviews are like Protein for my work-out. They help me not get burned-out ;)_**

* * *

**Chapter 6:**

One painfully long hour later, Emma was exhausted. Tank never stopped moving or barking.

He'd found a forgotten thing from somewhere and had dragged it around and around the living room, Around the couch, up and over the coffee table, until he'd inadvertently trapped the end on a chair leg and been caught up short.

Emma had thought he'd killed himself and had gone running around him, but before she'd gotten to him, he'd rebounded.

She was considering giving him an electrical cord to chew on next when she heard the front door open. Regina stepped inside wearing a sexy grey curves hugging dress with pair of "fuck me" heels. She picked up Henry and the kid squeal with abandon.

Regina gave a tired smile at the sound and turned to Emma, Henry still in Regina's arms. "Mal?"

"Present," Maleficent said, walking in the front door. The driver of the pickup was with her. Twentysomething, with an insolent smile, he slouched against the doorjamb.

Regina nudged the guy back a step until Slacker dude stood on the other side of the jamb. Regina then shut the door in his face.

"Regina!" Maleficent was horrified and pissed. "You can't do that to Michael!"

"Just did."

"You—"

"_Later_," Regina said curtly.

Maleficent turned around and walked off down the hallway. Two seconds later, her bedroom door slammed hard enough to shake the windows.

Regina ignored this. "Thanks," she said to Emma, who felt as rattled as the windows.

Regina reached into her bag and pulled out some cash.

"Oh no," Emma said, backing away. "You don't have to—"

"We didn't negotiate for babysitting fees."

"It's okay."

Two days later, Emma entered the diner, still thinking about kisses, deals, and sexy mayor named Regina.

She plopped into the back booth next to a waiting Mary Margaret. Ruby showed up two minutes later and dropped a shoe box on the table. She untied her red apron, tossed it aside, and sank into the booth, propping her feet up by Emma's hip. "Off duty, thank God."

"What's with the shoe box?" Emma asked, nudging it curiously. "New boots or something?"

"Or something." Ruby said.

"Somehow, I'm selling like crazy." She was a sketch artist, and she'd found a niche for herself creating color pencil renditions of the local landscape. "I can't keep up."

"Keep up?" Emma asked.

"Yeah. At first, I just took people's cash or checks and shoved the receipts into my purse or pockets or wherever."

"You said at first. What are you doing now?" Emma asked.

"Well I decided I was being irresponsible," Ruby said, "so I started a file."

"That's not a file," Emma said. "That's a box."

"Yeah, whatever. A box worked better." Ruby pushed it towards her. "For you."

Ruby shrugged. "So you took bookkeeping classes when you were graduating right. So it isn't my thing. It's yours, right?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose."

Emma looked at Mary Margaret, who laughed. "Better do it," she told Emma. "Before the IRS takes her away."

"Fine. But it's going to cost you."

"Big bucks?"

"Hot chocolate with cinnamon on top every day."

"Done," Ruby said. "But I'm going to pay you as well, so be sure to bill me."

"On what, a napkin?"

"Funny."

Ruby was moving in with her sexy town sheriff, Graham. Mary Margaret was planning to elope with David, a local veterinarian, to a beach somewhere in the south Atlantic—though she wanted a big reception here in Storybrooke when they got back.

They were laughing on Emma walking Regina's puppy everyday. Mary Margaret was telling her about Regina father's Practice which she takes cares.

"Regina got the Practice from her late father, but her first love is the Politics. If she sold, she could spend more time there in city hall. Or with Henry."

"Then she should sell." Emma said.

"Not that easy." Mary said. "Her father was very popular around here, and he built that practice out of love. People come from all over to go see Dr. Henry Mills' daughter Practice, out of loyalty and affection. It's huge obligation on Regina's shoulders."

Emma nodded. Oh boy, did she understand family obligation. Hers was to become _Someone Important._ Instead she was walking dogs and delivering flowers and kissing sexy mayor name Regina…

Ruby and Mary Margaret were staring at her. "What?"

"You tell us what," Mary Margaret said. "Miss Staring-Dreamily-Off-into-Space."

"I wasn't," Emma said. "It's nothing."

"It's something," Ruby said.

"Oh, it's something all right," Lucille said helpfully, getting out of booth to their right. "She left out the kiss." She pulled out her cell phone. "Here"

_Oh boy, _Emma thought. _Déjà vu._

And indeed, Lucille produced the infamous Facebook pic.

Mary's and Ruby's eyes cut straight to Emma, and she grimaced. "Okay, so I maybe left a teensy little part out," she admitted.

"Oh, for God's sake." Emma snatched the phone and handed it back to Lucille. "It was you. _You _posted this thing."

"Well of course I did. It's been a slow week. Nothing exciting—until you kissed town's favorite Mayor." Lucille winked, snagged a cupcake, and went on her way.

Intending to do the same Emma slid her purse on her shoulder but Ruby blocked her exit with one very wicked-looking kickass boot.

"Fine." Emma sagged back.

"We kissed, okay? No big deal. And I didn't tell you guys because I didn't want you to make a bigger deal out of it than it is."

"You kissed the hot Mayor," Ruby said in disbelief. "Maybe the hottest Mayor ever, and you don't think it's big deal?"

"She kissed me," Emma corrected, grabbing another cupcake since her exit was blocked.

"Regina kicks serious ass every day," Mary Margaret said. "By taking care of the town. She raised her sister. She's raising her son."

"Speaking of which," Emma said, "What happened to Henry's dad?"

Mary Margaret did a palms-up. "He wasn't from around here and he didn't stick. Regina's first experience with a guy was Henry's dad and she got pregnant. She came out after few days of the incident. Regina doesn't talk about Henry's dad or any other details."

Mary took Emma's hand, "We are glad you staying longer here, because the three of us, we give each other something."

"A hard time?" Emma asked.

"Hope," Mary said. "And courage. You wanted the courage to add some badly needed fun to your life. The kiss with Regina sounds like a good start to me. That's all I'm saying. So don't sweep it under the rug as a fluke or try to forget about it. Enjoy it."

Emma blew out a breath. "Well, sure, cloud the issue with logic."

Mary smiled. "We made a pact to change our lives, and that's what we're doing. All of us. No man left behind."

Mary pointed to Emma. "I mean it!"

Emma ignored her suddenly thick throat. "It's hard to take you seriously when you have a whip cream mustache."

"Look, forget us," Mary said. "We're not the point. The point is that you're not living up to what you said you'd do. You're not having fun."

"I don't know," Ruby said slowly, studying Emma. "Posing in the nude, walking hottie's dog... Sounds like fun to me."

"I didn't pose nude." Emma said. "Sheesh!"

"Well maybe you should," Mary told her, "And maybe you should have fun with sexy Mayor while you're at it. She's just about perfect."

Emma sighed and pulled out her phone which was ringing. "Crap," she said, looking at the caller ID.

"Bill collector?" Ruby asked.

"Worse. It's my mother."

"The Attorney?"

The one and only. Emma sucked in a breath and looked down at what she was wearing before she got a hold of herself and remember that her mother couldn't actually see her. "Mom," she said into the phone. "Hi, what's wrong?"

"What, a mother can't call her only daughter?"

"It's not the first weekend of the month," Emma said.

"True, but I just finished up the three-week on a big case and I realized I missed our monthly check-in. How are you doing, darling?"

This wasn't a "tell me about the weather" sort of question. This was a request for a full, detailed report, and guilt flooded Emma. She quickly scanned through her options. She could tell her what she'd been up to—which was that she'd been using her fancy college education not all—or continue to slightly mislead in order to keep her happy.

"And how's Boston?" Emma's mom asked. "How's your new job?"

Emma grimaced. "Actually, I've sort of moved on to something else."

"Oh?"

Emma looked down to Ruby's shoe box full of receipts. "Something more accounting based."

"Ah ha, good move. I always wanted you to go into the Accounting side more than Crime side."

A beep sounded in Emma's ear, her call-waiting. _Saved by the beep. _"Hold on Mom." She clicked over. "Hello?"

Nothing. Damn phone. She'd dropped it one too many times. She slapped the phone against her thigh and clicked again. "Hello?"

"Emma. You available for tomorrow?"

Regina and her deep voice, the one that continuously did something quite pornographic to every womanly part in Emma's entire body. _Was she available? _Unfortunately, yes. "Hang on a sec." She clicked back to her mom and decided that since she was going to hell, she might as well make her well-meaning mom happy before she did. "I've made a lateral move from my usual crime jobs. Nothing quite as exciting as being a corporate lawsuit attorney or a biologist, but I am working for the Mayor."

"Sounds fascinating dear," Regina said wryly. "Do I know this Mayor you are referring to?"

Emma froze. Crap. "Just a minute," she managed. She smacked herself in the forehead with her phone; then, ignoring both Ruby and Mary gaping at her, she clicked over again.

"Mom?"

"Yes, of course, dear, who else?"

_Who else indeed. _Emma swiped her damp forehead.

Mary and Ruby, both clearly fascinated by the Emma Show, were hanging on her every word.

Emma twisted in the booth, turning her back to them.

"So tell me about your job," her mom said.

"I'm... working for the Mayor," she said again.

"Using your accounting knowledge to handle the City finances and Budget? Or handling the Mayor's personal finances?"

She was saved from having to answer when her phone beeped again. "Hold on." She clicked over. "Madame Mayor, I can't talk right now."

Nothing.

Good Lord. She really needed a new phone. She smacked it again for good measure and clicked back to her mom. "Sorry, Mom. Yes I'm going to be putting my accounting skills to use." She looked at Ruby's box. "Sort of. I'm trying some new things out. And some… research. But listen, I've really got to—"

"Trying new things," Regina said. "I like the sound of that."

"Oh for God's sake—I have to go." She clicked again and drew in a deep breath. "Mom?"

"Yes. Darling, you sound quite frazzled. You're working hard?"

"Very," Emma managed, rubbing the spot between her eyes.

"What? Hello? Emma, I can't hear you—"

Silence.

Emma swore and hit the phone again. "Mom? Sorry, bad reception. But yes, I'm working hard, very hard. Hey, I'm a Swan right? That's what we do."

"This conversation just gets more and more interesting," Regina said.

"Oh my God! I thought I told you I had to go!" Emma disconnected her and fanned herself. "Damn, is it hot in here?"

Mary and Ruby were wide-eyed. Mary opened her mouth to speak; Emma pointed at her, and then grimaced as she spoke into the phone. "Mother?"

"Yes. Emma, what are—"

"Going into a tunnel, Mom. We're going to lose reception—"Emma disconnected, closed her eyes, and took her medicine like a big girl. "I suppose you're still there," she said into the phone.

"Yes dear," Regina said. "So the dog walking. Overqualified much?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh I bet"

"I'm going into a tunnel," she said desperately.

"There are no tunnels in Storybrooke, Emma."

"Then I'm throwing myself under a bus."

"You can run," Regina said, clearly vastly amused, "but you can't hide."

Emma disconnected, tossed her phone to the booth seat, and thunked her head onto the table.

"Wow," Ruby said approvingly. "When you embarrass yourself, you go all the way, don't you?"

"I'm going to go to hell for that."

"Nah," Ruby said, pushing the hot chocolate close to Emma. "I don't think people go to hell for making an unbelievable ass of themselves. Granny says you go to hell for abusing yourself."

Emma thought about how she'd abused herself in the shower just that very morning and sighed.

**Yes I am using Jill Shalvis book as inspiration and yes EMMA IS NOT IN FOSTER CARE, She has a demanding and overly qualified parents. I have my own pinch of creation in this story. If you are not interested to read leave it alone but don't insult here. THIS IS A AU… I created Regina being Gay and Mayor.. Inspired by the NYC Mayor.. Regina is not dark and twisty.. I presented her more like "Regina prior to Daniel's death" and she feels bad if she hurts someone. Emma is as she is always, Fierce and Sassy. More interesting chapters to come. Please do review. It really encourages.**

**I may not have a quick update, As I work full-time but I will try my level best to update at least alternate day. Thank you.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I don't own either the characters or storyline. Inspired by the Jill Shalvis fiction novel I read.

**_I don't have a beta reader so all the grammatical mistakes are my faults. Please post reviews. It is like Glucose for me to write. Am open for any kind of comments._**

**_Twitter: sbrockz_**

* * *

**Chapter 7:**

Thanks to crazy City hall meetings, Regina didn't get home until late. She crawled into bed and immediately crashed, dreaming about certain beautiful, willowy Officer-slash-accountant-slash-model-slash-dog-walker in a wet tank top that clung to her curves and made Regina's heart pound.

And thanks to her own stupidity, she could also dream about kissing said beautiful, willowy blonde.

Regina got one glorious hour of sleep before she was woken by a puking Mal. Not the flu, but a hangover. Good times.

When Regina finally got to her office, she found she'd been double booked, but that was nothing new either. Her secretary pulled out her phone and showed Regina the Facebook pic of her and Emma kissing.

"Looks like a pretty definite mixing of church and state," Kathryn said.

Kathryn was Regina's friend from the time they went to school together. So when they both are alone they are just friends. Not Boss and employee.

Regina stared at the picture, a little surprised to find that her and Emma's crazy chemistry had absolutely translated to the screen for the world to see. "She doesn't work in this practice."

"She's an employee. You pay her to walk your dog."

There was no use in getting annoyed that she knew Emma was her dog walker. Everyone knew it. This was Storybrooke, after all. Regina left for the meeting after her small talk.

It was afternoon, Graham walked into her office with his and her lunch.

"It's a no-brainer," Graham said. He'd brought five-inch deli club sandwiches for lunch. They were spread out in Regina's office. "Sell the practice to the local hospital. Let them bring new administrative department, and all your problems go away. You work the hours you want. Simple."

Nothing was ever that simple, but the appeal was growing, and Regina had been thinking about little else for months. It meant giving up her dad's dream, which she hated, but the truth was that Regina couldn't do the dream justice. She'd tried. She is not a doctor. She is a Politician.

When Graham had gone back to station, Regina brought up the contract offer, which she'd read a hundred times. A thousand. She'd had her attorney go over it with fine-tooth comb. All she had to do was accept the offer with an electronic signature and hit SEND.

Her finger hovered over the ENTER key, but then she set her head down on her desk to think about it for a minute. The next thing, she knew Kathryn was calling her name.

She gave her more paperwork.

"Christ," Regina muttered. "Again?"

"Here" Kathryn handed her coffee. "You probably need it more than I do."

"Thanks." It had far too much sugar and milk in it, but she was right. Regina needed it bad.

"Your father was never this busy," Kathryn said.

"Because we've doubled his practice."

"You doubled his practice," she said, and gave Regina a pat on the arm. "He'd be proud, but he wouldn't want this for you. Just sign the damn contract, Mayor. Before you burn out."

"I'm not going to burn out."

"Okay, then sign the damn contract before I burn out." With that, Kathryn nabbed back her coffee and left.

An hour later, the waiting room was still full. Kathryn gave Regina the stink eye when she slipped into her office to take an incoming call. It was Henry's school.

Henry hadn't been picked up by Katy, his nanny.

Regina immediately headed for the door, giving a pissed-off Kathryn an apologetic wave. She got into her car while dialing Katy. She was the sister of one of the employees at the city hall and had come highly recommended.

Katy picked up and immediately said, "Don't hate me but I'm getting on a plane."

Regina let out a breath. "No Notice?"

"I couldn't get a hold of you yesterday. I talked to Maleficent."

Regina considered thunking her head against her steering wheel. "A day's notice, then?"

"I'm sorry, Regina," she said with real regret. "But I think my replacement should be two nannies. And maybe an enforcer."

Regina called Maleficent next. She didn't pick up. Shock. Regina pictured Henry waiting at school with no one there and her stomach cramped. She sped up while mentally thumbing through contracts on the phone, slowing at Emma's name.

Stopping.

Moving on.

Backing up.

_Don't do it, Regina. _Emma was smart as hell but she was also a really, really, _really _bad dog walker. No way should Regina burden Emma with her kid too. Except Emma already handled Henry yesterday for an hour, and everyone had lived to tell the tale.

She'd come through for Regina, twice now. Which really begged the question—_exactly who was helping whom here?_

The truth was, Emma already proven more reliable than half the people in Regina's life. And damn if there wasn't something in her eyes that pulled Regina in like the tide, something extremely unforgettable. Regina knew Emma was a little lost, searching for something. Regina had no idea what but she wanted to help. Which was a very bad idea. Regina needed another person on her plate like she needed a hole in her head, but she couldn't turn back now. She was drawn to Emma.

Emma answered on the third and a half ring with a question in her "hello," as if maybe Emma been playing chicken with her voicemail.

"So," Regina said. "Daughter of a rocket scientist?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Regina laughed. "You busy?"

"Not anymore. Just got back from an interview in New York."

This drained Regina amusement real quick, and her gut tightened—both in relief for her and regret for how she'd feel when Emma left Storybrooke. "How did it go?"

"Good. I think. I just got back and already walked Tank for you. And there were no accidents and no near drowning. No incidents at all, actually. Oh, and whatever your neighbor says about me isn't true. Mostly."

"Mostly?"

"Well…Tank sort of defiled Mrs. Perry's petunias. Twice."

Mrs. Perry was dead serious about her petunias. A few months back, when Regina had been teaching Henry to ride his bike, Henry had ridden through the flower bed.

Mrs. Perry had called the Sheriff, claiming Vandalism.

Graham has shown up on the Regina's doorstep doing his damnedest to hide his smile, suggesting that Regina might want to think about teaching Henry to ride in a deserted parking lot instead of making potpourri out of Mrs. Perry's petunias.

The following week, Maleficent had brought the Antichrist home, and Henry had given up riding his bike, preferring instead to run with the puppy.

And bark.

"Forget Mrs. Perry," Regina said. "I've another job for you."

"Doing?"

Regina hesitated, not wanting her to say no. "It's a one-time temp position."

"My specialty," Emma said. "Do I get a hint?"

"I need a babysitter for Henry. Just for an hour or two."

Emma fell quiet, and Regina didn't want to rush her, but she had meetings waiting, a sister to strangle later, and Henry, who was hopefully not waiting alone at the curb at the school that Regina was still five blocks from.

"Was I your last choice?" Emma finally asked.

"You were my only choice."

"Aw." Emma said. "We're both such accomplished liars."

Regina laughed softly, and there was another beat of that crazy chemistry, right through the phone.

"I'll do it," she said. "I'll watch Henry for you."

Regina let out a breath of relief. "Meet us at the house. And, Emma?" Regina paused. "Thanks."

"Yeah, you probably shouldn't thank me yet."

Regina disconnected and pulled up to the school. Henry stood on the curb, one hand in his teacher aide's, the other clutching a Hulk to his chest.

Regina got out of the car and crouched in front of him. "Hello Henry. Sorry Katy wasn't here to get you. She's moving a little sooner than expected."

Henry nodded and studied the tops of his avenger sneakers. He had newer pairs but he refused to wear them.

Regina met the teacher aide's eyes. She sent Regina a scared and censuring look that said, _Epic fail, MOM._

_Message received, thank you annoying, condescending teacher aide. _"Appreciate you waiting with him."

"It's my job, Madame Mayor," she said. "And you should know, Henry pulled another vanishing act on us today."

"I didn't get a call."

"Because we found him," she said. "Thirty feet up the big oak tree in the playground."

Little black dots floated in Regina's visual field. "What were you doing up there?" She asked Henry.

Henry had another silent consult with his athletic shoes, so the aide answered for him. "He had a tree frog clenched in one fist."

"Henry doesn't have a frog."

"No," she agreed. "But we do. It was liberated from its terrarium in the kindergarten classroom."

Ah. Now it made sense. Regina looked at Henry. "You saved the frog, huh?"

Henry nodded.

"Oh, and he spoke today," the aide added.

"Really?" This was great news. "What did you say?" she asked Henry. "Wait. Let me guess. You solved world hunger. Or…created peace on earth. No, I know, you asked a girl out."

Henry wrinkled his nose like, _Ewwwwww, a girl?_

Regina grinned at him, and Henry giggled, the sound music to Regina's ears.

"He wanted to know if I'd be his other mommy," the aide said.

Uh-oh. That one had Maleficent written all over it. Regina sucked in a breath and slid another glance at Henry. "Your aunt teach you that?"

Henry shrugged.

Oh, yeah. _Maleficent__._

"He also asked the lunch aide and vice principal. And the janitor."

Regina kept her expression calm as she rose and took Henry's hand. Henry used his other to pull up his sagging jeans, and because his Avengers T-shirt was only half tucked in, there was a strip of pale skin revealed.

Her son is going commando.

Regina had no idea why, and hell if she'd ask in front of Judgmental Teacher Aide, so she filed the question away for later. "Ready to go home, Henry?"

Finally a spark of life. "_Arf."_

* * *

**Yes I am using Jill Shalvis book as inspiration and yes EMMA IS NOT IN FOSTER CARE, She has a demanding and overly qualified parents. I have my own pinch of creation in this story. If you are not interested to read leave it alone but don't insult here. THIS IS AN AU… I created Regina being Gay and Mayor... Inspired by the NYC Mayor... Regina is not dark and twisty... I presented her more like "Regina prior to Daniel's death" and she feels bad if she hurts someone. Emma is as she is always, Fierce and Sassy. More interesting chapters to come. Please do review. It really encourages.**

**I may not have a quick update, As I work full-time I will try my level best to update. Sorry. Thank you.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I don't own either the characters or storyline. Inspired by the Jill Shalvis fiction novel I read.

**_I don't have a beta reader so all the grammatical mistakes are my faults. Please post reviews. It is like Glucose for me to write. Am open for any kind of comments._**

**Follow Twitter: sbrockz**

* * *

**Chapter 8:**

Emma had been at the grocery store when Regina had called and was checking out when she got stopped by Bella, who owned a pottery shop.

"I hear you're doing accounting for Ruby," Bella said.

"And that you're fixing Ruby up with a bookkeeping system. I could really use a better bookkeeping system."

"Oh," Emma said. "Well, I'm not—"

"Ruby swears by you." Bella said. "I'd do it myself but the left side of my brain is resistant to numbers. I'd pay you, of course, and not just in pottery either. Even my husband Mr. Gold can help you out to get a new apartment. I'm doing really well this quarter. Or so I think. I'll know better when you fix up my books."

"Yes, but I didn't really plan to start bookkeeping…" Emma broke off at Bella's hopeful expression. Hell. One small pottery shop. How much work could it really be? "I guess I could come take a look at what you've got."

"Oh, that's so wonderful!" Bella hugged her, then spared a guilty smile. "Um, you should probably know that I'm not quite as organized as Ruby.

Since Ruby's entire financial portfolio had been shoved into a shoe box, this was cause for some alarm, but Emma had already said yes. She promised to go by later, and drove to Regina's

Certain parts of her—her naughty parts—we doing the happy dance at getting to see Regina again. Her other parts—her smarter parts—were more reserved. After the humiliating Phone call incident where she'd heard way too much about Emma through her conversation with her mom, she'd sort of hoped to keep some healthy distance between her and Regina for a while.

Like Forever.

But Regina dangled this job, and she couldn't really afford to turn it down. Emma told Regina the truth about the New York interview going well, but she didn't have an offer yet. Next up was the Newark Interview. And then all she had to do was wait.

She hated waiting.

When she knocked on the front door, wild barking came from inside. Regina answered, looking pretty damn fine and sexy in black pants and a blue button-down, the ever popped out two buttons on shirt. Emma's morning had been spent in the morning with several women just as well dressed, just as beautiful, but not a single one of them had affected her breathing.

_Why did she affect my breathing?_

Regina's gaze tracked right to her lips, and a shot of hot, wet desire went straight through her, heading south.

_Oh no. No, no, no, _she told herself sternly. No matter how hot and good-looking Regina was, or how Regina made her knees wobble with just one glance, she wasn't for her. Not even close. Regina was the kind of woman she'd spent her entire life trying to live up to, driven, focused, workaholic…Ain't happening. Not here, not now, not ever. She repeated that to herself a few times, but her body didn't buy into the hype. Her body wanted Regina.

The barking seemed to have increased in decibels. "Don't tell me it multiplied," Emma said.

"Okay, I won't tell you."

Hmm. Regina was also extremely cool and calm under pressure. Something she'd never managed on her best day. And sexy as that—so damn sexy—she'd discovered that people who had the cool, calm thing down were cool and calm everywhere, including their relationships.

She didn't want cool and calm in a relationship. She wanted passion. The big bang.

_Fun._

"Arf, arf!" Henry yelled, coming running around the corner.

Regina swung him up. Now there were two faces looking at Emma, both so similar as to be eerie, though Henry's was minus the fine stress lines outside the eyes and the world of knowledge in them.

"Henry's going to try real hard to be good." Regina said.

Henry nodded. Tank was at their feet, running in circles, chasing his own tail. With Henry still on board, Regina bent and scooped up the puppy too. "I can't promise the same for Tank."

Tank panted proudly. "Arf!"

Emma gave the pug a steely-eyed look that said. _Eat my shoes today and die_, which didn't cow him at all. But she had a genuine smile for Henry. "Hey there."

"Arf!"

"Are you and Tank brothers?" she asked him.

Henry smiled and started to speak, but Regina adjusted her hold on Tank and reached back, covering Henry's mouth.

"Wait," Emma said. "I think he was going to actually use words."

"Yes, but trust me, you don't want to hear them."

Henry pulled Regina's hand away. "Are you my other mommy?"

Emma's mouth fell open in shock, and Henry giggled at the sight.

"Okay, Prince," Regina said. "You know I love the sound of your laugh, probably more than any sound in the world, but I will squash you like a grape if you say that to one more woman today."

Henry pointed at Maleficent, who walked into the living room behind them.

"Yeah I know," Regina said mildly, sending her sister a glance. "I'm going to squash Maleficent like a grape too."

Emma was horrified she'd say such a thing to a sweet little boy, much less to her sister, but Henry just grinned.

Maleficent did, too, and without a word, continued walking through the house, ignoring all of them.

Regina set Henry down. "How about you go find something to do that won't get you in trouble," she said.

When the kid was gone, Regina looked at Emma. "I called Mary Margaret."

"You did? For what?"

"I realize that this is a favor, my favor," she said. "But I had to make sure you're everything you seem, even with the multiple degrees and what sounds like a…interesting family. And just out of curiosity, what kind of accounting are you doing for me, by the way?"

Emma groaned and covered her face. "I told you, I don't want to talk about it."

Regina laughed softly. "So we're okay?"

"Maybe. What did Mary Margaret say?"

"That I'd be lucky to have you as Henry's nanny. And that she'd hurt me if I hurt you."

"What would you have done if she'd said something bad about me?"

"I'd have brought Henry with me to work. I've done that before."

Emma couldn't be sure, but it seemed like the big, bad, tough mayor shuddered at the memory, "You won't have to do that this week," she said.

Regina gave her a smile that conveyed gratitude, and also a good amount of something else, something that wobbled her knees as Regina gestured her inside. Every other time she'd been here, the place had been very neat, but not today. Today it looked like a bomb had gone off, especially the kitchen. There were dishes in the sink and ingredients and utensils all over the counters.

"It's my housekeeper's day off." Regina said, and scooped Henry up, eliciting a squeal of delight. This got even louder when Regina hung Henry upside down before finally setting the kid into a chair in front of a loaded plate.

"After-school snack was Henry's choice today," Regina explained. "Luckily this coincided with a lunch break for me, and I made what we like to call 'guilt pancakes.'"

Regina poured a little dollop of syrup onto Henry's plate, then ruffled the boy's hair, her expression soft with something Emma had never seen from Regina before.

Affection.

"Be right back, Henry." Regina said. "Eat up."

Henry held up his hulk with one hand, which was, of course, driving Tank nuts. The little pug was doing his circle-the-table thing, growling ferociously at every whoosh, vrrmm—whoosh, posturing like he was a hulk as well.

"Napoleon complex," Regina said to Emma. "He thinks he's bigger than he is."

Henry grabbed a pancake in his free hand. Flattening it on the table, he rolled it up before dipping it into the syrup and then into his mouth.

"Utensils," Regina said.

Henry sighed and dropped his hulk to reach for a fork.

Tank's growl came to an abrupt stop when the hulk hit the floor, and with a startled snort, he ran off with his tail between his legs.

Henry, holding a fork in one hand, used his other to stuff a huge bite into his mouth.

Regina tapped the unused fort in Henry's hand, then turned to Emma, gesturing that she wanted a work in private. She led her out the back door, shutting it behind them.

She turned to look inside to see if Henry was using the fork or his fingers, but today the blinds on the window were closed.

"Okay, so here's the deal," Regina said. "I lied about it being for an hour or two."

That had Emma turning back to face Regina. "So I'm not the only one going to hell?"

Regina shoved her fingers through her hair, making it fall on her face.

Suddenly Regina dropped her arms back to her sides as if they weighed far too much. "Look," she said. "The truth is that I'm late. I'm overbooked. My sister's going to give me a heart attack. I need someone to watch Henry for me today, and you need money. Plus, he's a good kid, really good, even if he refuses to use utensils or speak English. He will, however, bark at will, and he's excellent at catching spiders."

This stopped Emma cold. "You have more spiders?"

"No," Regina said without missing a beat. "No spiders."

"You said spiders," Emma said. "And I saw a big one in the side yard, in the sprinkler well."

"That spider went south for the winter."

"It's summer."

"He wanted to be the first to get out of town."

"Look at you, with all the lies." But Emma had to admit, Henry was pretty damn cute. And Henry's mom was even cuter—though she was sure she'd object to such an innocuous word as cute.

Regina had spoken in a calm, quiet manner, but everything about her said exhausted tension. Not to mention how much she appeared to hate having to ask something of Emma.

Emma understood pride. God, how she understood pride. But seriously? Was she really thinking of doing this simply because Regina was in a bind?

_No,_ a little voice inside her head said. _It's because she's hot…_ "How long?"

Regina didn't move, didn't give away any sign of relief, but her eyes warmed. "Eight o'clock, at the latest."

Five hours from now. Emma had no idea what to do with a kid for five hours.

"Offer to kiss her again."

They both whirled around to find the back door cracked and an eyeball peering at them through that crack.

Maleficent, in her all glory.

"Sorry," Emma told her. "That ship sailed."

Maleficent snorted.

Regina pulled the door shut and held it closed with one hand, the other resting on the wood next to her head. "Sorry about that." She leaned into her, forcing her into a door-and-Regina sandwich.

Not a bad place to be when it came right down to it. "So," she said, annoyingly breathless, "eight o'clock, then?"

"Yes, and there's a but."

If it was her butt, Emma was in.

"It's not just for today," Regina said.

This was the proverbial bucket of ice water.

"What?"

"I need help for the rest of the week," Regina said. "From two until eight…ish."

"Oh my God, Regina." All week… "I don't know."

"I'm hiring a replacement nanny. I've already got feelers out. You and Henry can do the preinterviews and save some time if you want. I'd ask Maleficent to watch him, but she does the early mornings and late nights already. Plus, she's not been all that reliable, and Henry's been through enough."

"Regina…"

"A thousand bucks," she said.

"Oh my God."

"Yes or no, Emma."

Regina's breast was touching her in a very yummy way, but it was hard to concentrate on her yummy goodness at the moment, as unbelievable as that was. "A thousand dollars?" she said, dazed. "For half a week? You can't be serious."

"It also comes with free room and board. There's a guesthouse behind my pool. That's where a couple of our nannies have stayed, though not our last one; she was married. It's only seven hundred and fifty square feet, but it's furnished."

"I'll have more job interviews this week." _Hopefully._

"We can work that out," Regina said.

Emma nodded, but she was thinking that Regina smelled amazing, even better than chocolate. So much so that she wanted to bite her.

And was Regina suddenly closer? She leaned her head back on the door to look at Regina, into those warm, mocha eyes. Yeah, she was closer. Emma could actually bite her if she wanted. But she was going to be good. "There's no family to help you?" She knew Regina's dad had passed away, but that was all she knew. "What about your mom, or maybe other siblings? Or…Henry's dad?"

"Both my parents are gone," Regina said. "And I have no other siblings. As for Henry's dad, he was never available in our life."

Regina face was an impassive mask. Impossible to read. Not too hard to guess her thoughts, though—the woman was in a rough spot with no support system in place. Maybe Emma was nothing but a sucker, but there was something so appealing about a woman taking her of kid, her sister, an entire town and the medical practice all on her own, doing everything she could make it all work. "Okay," Emma said softly. "I'm in. I'm not sure about the guesthouse. I'll let you know. But I'll take care of Henry for the week." She expected Regina to back up and let her go, but Regina didn't.

"There's one last thing," Regina said.

She wondered if Regina looked as good without her clothes. "What?"

"_That ship sailed?_" Regina asked, repeating Emma earlier words to Maleficent.

Again Emma titled her head down. "I meant we've been there, done that. We already kissed, remember?"

Regina gaze heated. Yeah, she remembered.

"And it was…fine."

Regina eyes, Fathomless dark pools, as always, giving nothing away of herself or her secrets. "The kiss was…_fine_," she repeated, eyes narrowed.

"Well, yeah." _Fine plus amazing time infinity._

Regina just looked at her.

"Okay," Emma admitted, sagging back against the door. "So it was a little better than fine. But I'm not looking for this. For a woman like you."

"Like me," Regina said slowly, as if the words didn't quite compute any more easily than "fine" had.

And probably they didn't. Look at her. She could have chemistry with a brick wall. "It's just that I'm not going to be in Storybrooke much longer, so while I'm here, I'm aiming for…fun."

"Fun."

"Yeah. It's a new thing I'm trying."

"And you think I'm not," Regina said with a hint of disbelief, "fun."

"It's nothing personal."

"Hmm." Regina took a step toward her, and since there was already no place to go, Emma found herself once again sandwiched between the door and Regina's delicious yummy curves. Regina hands went to her hips, where they squeezed lightly and then slid up her sides, past her ribs, to her arms and her shoulders. By the time she got to Emma's throat and cupped her face, Emma bones had gone AWOL.

"What are you doing?" Emma managed.

"Showing you how much fun I can be."

Oh boy. Just Regina's husky whisper sent a shiver down her spine, the sort of shiver a woman wasn't supposed to get for a woman she didn't want to be attracted to. And then Emma's body strained a little closer to Regina's.

_Bad body!_

Regina's eyes met hers and held. She was purposely building the anticipation, along with the heat working Emma from the inside out.

"Still think I'm not fun?" Regina asked softly.

"You're not." Emma swallowed hard. "You're…"

Regina quirked a brow.

Hot and sexy, and damn. _Fun. _Which meant that Emma was in big trouble here, going-down-for-the-count kind of trouble. Time to wave the white flag, Emma decided. And she would. In just a minute…

"Say it, Emma."

"Okay, so maybe you're a little fun," Emma admitted. "But—"

Regina nibbled Emma's lower lip, soothing it with her tongue, then stroked and teased Emma with her mouth until Emma let out a helpless murmur of arousal and fisted her hands in Regina's shirt.

Regina eyes were heavy-lidded and sexy when she pulled back. "Bullshit, a _little _fun." Her mouth curved as she looked down.

Following Regina's gaze, Emma realized she was still gripping her shirt. Emma forced herself to smooth her fingers over the wrinkles she'd left. "Fine. You're a barrel of fun. Happy now?"

"Getting there." Regina eyes were dark with lust and focused on hers, Regina's hands on her back, fingers stroking her through the thin material of her tank top. When Regina lifted her head, she did it slowly, giving Emma plenty of time to turn away.

Emma didn't.

Their eyes help until Regina's lips touched hers, and then Emma lashes swept down involuntarily. Emma couldn't help it; Regina's lips were warm, firm, and oh how just right…

With a deep grown, Regina threaded her hands through Emma's hair and tilted her head to better suit hers, parting Emma's lips with hers, kissing Emma lightly at first, then not so lightly. And then everything felt insistent and urgent, and all Emma's bones melted.

By the time Regina broke the kiss, Emma was unsteady on her feet, and her breathing was more in line with marathon run. "I'm not sure what that proved exactly," Emma managed. Except Regina was the best kisser on the planet…

Regina eyes were heavy-lidded. Her shirt was half untucked—Emma doing. Regina stood there looking dangerously alluring and hotter than sin.

Regina slowly shook her head. Obviously she didn't know what that proved any more than Emma did. "I'm not looking for a relationship with you either," Regina said quietly. "I'm not looking for a relationship period. You've seen my life, Emma. Hell, you're living it. You know I'd be crazy to bring a woman into this mess."

"So we're on the same page," Emma said with relief. Except not really. Emma should feel relief, but she didn't, which made no sense. Neither of them wanted this. Where was her relief?

Regina gaze dropped to her mouth. "Thanks for agreeing to watch Henry for me this week."

"Any time," Emma whispered, then bent her head little so that when she repeated the two softly, her mouth brushed Regina's with each syllable.

Regina groaned, and the sound of it so sensually dominating, that Emma tingled all over. Emma leaned into her, and when Regina groaned again, it rumbled from Regina's chest to hers. "Emma."

"I know." Emma lifted her hands from Regina and backed away, right into the door of course.

Regina's hand, low on her back, slid up until she cupped Emma's head in her palm. "Careful."

They stared at each other some more. Then her made their way up Regina's hands around her neck, her fingers gliding into Regina's hair.

Regina made another sound low in her throat and pulled Emma back to her. Emma wasn't sure which of them made the next move after that, but then they were kissing again, and damn, she'd been right. Regina could kiss, _really _kiss—

The knock on the other side of the door caused Emma to nearly jump out of her skin.

Regina didn't jump or let go of her. Regina pressed a kiss to the soft spot just beneath the pulse point. "You're lethal," Regina whispered before pulling her clear so she could open the door to Maleficent.

Henry was in her arms eating a Popsicle, his mouth rimmed in purple.

Maleficent was smirking. "Whatcha doing?" she asked.

Regina just sent her a long look, one that would have had Emma quivering in her boots if it'd been directed at her.

But Maleficent wasn't cowed in the slightest. "Oh, I know," she said. "You were checking each other's tonsils."

"Mal," Regina said, her tone mild but laced with a clear warning.

Maleficent just smiled. "Henry wanted to remind you that you have open house night at school later. And you're supposed to bring cupcakes for something or another tomorrow."

Still sucking on the popsicle, Henry nodded his agreement on this.

"Neither of those things are on the schedule," Regina said.

"Oops," Maleficent said. "They must have gotten erased. Like my Europe trip."

A muscle twitched in Regina's jaw, but she softened her expression for a solemn Henry, ruffling the boy's hair in reassurance.

Tank was at their feet, squealing and snuffling, trying to coax someone into picking him up. "Arf," he said.

"Arf," Henry said.

Emma's stomach contracted, which she couldn't have explained to save her life. "I can handle the cupcakes," she heard herself say.

Regina looked at her with the expression of someone who was drowning but hadn't expected a rope tossed to her. "Really?"

"Yeah." Emma smiled at Henry. "I'm something of a cupcake expert. Especially _chocolate _cupcakes."

Regina's phone buzzed from the depth of her pocket. She pulled it out and looked at the screen, mouth grim. "Gotta go." She kissed the top of Henry's head. "Be good." She sent Maleficent a long warning look, then went on the move, towing Emma along with her, her hand on Emma's wrist, forcing her to practically run to keep up with Regina. They strode through the house and out the front. Regina shut the door firmly, then pressed Emma's back against it, dipping down a little to look into her face _oh when did she put that heels on_

"We have got to stop meeting like this," Emma said.

Regina didn't smile. "We still on the same page?"

"The no-relationship page in spite of the fact that we tend to burn all the oxygen in a room when we're in it together?" Emma asked. "Hell yes, we're on the same page. Who needs all that crazy chemistry." She forced a laugh. "Not me…"

"Emma." Regina wasn't laughing. "If this is too much—"

"No, of course not. We have a deal. I'll watch Henry. Another reason to minimize the whole kissing thing. Right? Because I don't kiss my bosses. In fact, my last job didn't work out because I wouldn't…" she grimaced. Damn big mouth of hers. "You know."

Regina's expression was suddenly even more serious. "No," she said quietly. "I don't know. Tell me."

Well hell. How did they get here? She rolled her shoulders and looked at the ocean across the street, uncomfortable with the subject and the memory she didn't want to tell Regina about. "It's no big deal. He wanted…things. I didn't want to give him things. The end."

Regina studied her for a moment. "But first you sued the pants off him, or at least smacked him around a little, kicked him where it hurts, right?"

Emma let out a low laugh. "No." Nothing nearly so satisfactory. She'd simply left Boston, not willing to fight for the job that she'd realized she'd never be comfortable in. Unnerved about what had happened, scared about her future, she'd gotten in her car and headed out. She'd been thinking only about putting some distance between her and what would have been a bad decision, and then she'd ended up here in Storybrooke.

A complete accident that had turned out to be the best accident of her life. A glorious break from the fast track of her life.

"Emma," Regina said, and waited for Emma to look at her. "I'm not that person."

"I know." And Emma did. "Which is how"—Emma waved her hand between them and let out a low laugh—"it got a little out of hand just now. My fault, I know, but I just don't want you to think—"

"I don't," Regina said. "I wouldn't. And you weren't alone in letting it get out of hand." She shook her head. "Not even close. I acted inappropriately. I'm sorry, Emma."

In Emma's world, blame was assigned and cast upon the closest target. In her world, people did not take responsibility for their mistakes. She met Regina's gaze and gave her the utter terrifying truth. "It didn't feel inappropriate," Emma admitted. "It felt…"

"Fun?" Regina tone was lighter now. Teasing. And Emma knew they were truly going to be okay. Regina didn't want this' she didn't have time for this. That made two of them. Emma would be leaving soon, going back to her "real life." Soon as she found it. "Anything critical I need to know to ensure Henry's well-being?"

"He's shy and won't tell you if he's hungry or thirsty. He eats dinner at five-thirty, and there's stuff in the freezer with directions included. Be careful not to deviate—he has food allergies. There's a card on the counter listing all the no-nos. And don't let him feed Tank any of his Zhu Zhus. Tank is the Antichrist himself, but even the Antichrist can't digest metal and plastic. That painful lesson cost me six hundred bucks last week."

"Ouch," Emma said, grateful not to have a pug or puppy. Or a Zhu Zhu. "So feed and water the kid, and keep Tank away from the Zhu Zhus. Got it."

"And Mal…"

"I'm thinking she can tell me when she's hungry and thirsty. And she probably knows not to try to inhale any Zhu Zhus, right?"

Regina let out a breath. "Yeah. But she's not your responsibility. Don't let her drive you off."

"She won't need any help?"

"No. Trust me on this, no. And I should probably apologize ahead of time for her."

"We'll be fine, Madame Mayor."

Regina let out a half laugh. "Back to that, are we?"

"Don't you like it when people call you Mayor?"

"Only if they're sitting in my office room."

Emma looked into her eyes for a sign that Regina was being falsely modest, but she wasn't. There was nothing but a mild impatience in Regina's gaze.

And a lingering head that stroked Emma's back into flames. "You gotta go."

"Yes." Regina leaned in and brushed her mouth over Emma's, then kissed her with some serious intent before pulling back. "Shit."

Emma wobbled unsteadily and had to laugh at the both of them, shaken by a kiss. "It's still there."

"Yes, It's still there."

* * *

**Yes I have a longer update this time. More SWAN QUEEN scenes. Definitely sexy times ahead. I promise. **

**I may not have a quick update, As I work full-time I will try my level best to update. Sorry. Thank you.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I don't own either the characters or storyline. Inspired by the Jill Shalvis fiction novel I read.

**_I don't have a beta reader so all the grammatical mistakes are my faults. Please post reviews. It is like Glucose for me to write. Am open for any kind of comments._**

**Follow Twitter: sbrockz**

* * *

**Chapter 9:**

Regina went back to the office, and as she worked through her paperwork, all she had to do was look at a door and she'd think about the full-body press she'd given Emma.

Twice.

She wanted Emma, which was just about as crazy as it got, since Emma was a woman with nothing more than fun on her mind. But Regina been there, done that, and had her life changed forever. It was how she'd gotten Henry, which she wouldn't change for the world.

It made no sense to her, her crazy attraction to Emma. She wasn't her type. Okay, so Regina didn't have a type. Her requirements were warm and sweet—except in bed, where she preferred decidedly not warm and sweet.

But Emma wasn't going to end up in her bed. They'd both said so. They'd agreed to be on the same page in this matter—the no-relationship page. Very grown up.

Christ, she hated being grown up.

Regina walked out of her office and arrived at Practice. Kathryn gave her a sympathetic smile.

Mrs. Carson was waiting for next doctor. She'd accidentally mixed up her blood pressure meds with her husband's Viagra. Unfortunate that she was also hard of hearing.

Next patient in waiting list was Killian Jones, a local ship sailor who came in every six weeks without fail with a new STD. "You ever think about getting smart?" Regina asked.

Killian grinned. "Your dad used to ask me the same thing. Problem is baby, my dick's in charge. And my dick's not the one with the IQ."

Regina shook her head and said, "Your dick needs to read _Dicks for Dummies, _or it's going to fall off and If you call me baby one more time I will cut it off myself this time."

Killian gave a mocking scared look and laughed.

"Yeah, I got the point very clear Madame Mayor. But seriously, you're a good person Mayor. You're not going to sell the practice, are you? Like all the others around here have?"

Regina sighed, "I'm thinking about it."

Regina entered into her office in Practice, when Graham called to see if Regina was ever going to go rock climbing with him again.

"I can't get away," Regina said.

"Jesus, Sign already."

"I'm still thinking."

"Are you still going to be thinking when you're too old to hang off a cliff without worrying that you'll drop your dentures?"

Regina sighed. "Call David. He'll rock climb."

"He'll rock climb never. The guy who jumps out of helicopters to rescue people for living doesn't like heights."

This was true. "Take Ruby."

"No go," Graham said. "She told me if I tried to wake her up before dawn again, she'd kill me with my own gun."

This was undoubtedly also true. Ruby was beautiful, sharp, and tough as hell.

"You need some more hours in your day," Graham said. "You're not any fun. Anyone ever tell you that?"

Okay, now this was starting to piss her off.

"I'm plenty of fun," Regina said.

"Yeah? When?"

When her tongue had been in Emma's mouth. That had been pretty fucking fun.

"_Sell,_" Graham said, and disconnected.

"I'm fun," Regina repeated to no one. She slid her phone away and thought about Emma some more. That was fun all in itself, actually. Too much fun. Emma was a complete time sink, not to mention a threat to Regina's peace of mind. Emma made her want things. Emma made her want to step outside of the box of her life, something she absolutely couldn't do.

No matter how tempting.

Regina got home at eight-thirty, half an hour late. Henry was bathed and ready for bed, a Zhu Zhu warrior hamster in one fist and his hulk figure in the other, Tank compliant at his feet. Two perfect angels.

When Emma had arrived at Regina's house earlier, she'd looked soft and willowy in a tank top, cropped sweater, her wavy blonde hair falling silkily to her shoulders, facial expression dialed to easy, curious intelligence. During their moment against Regina's back door, Emma's hair had gotten mussed—her doing—and Emma's expression hadn't been nearly so calm. Her eyes had been dilated, her mouth wet from Regina's, her nipples hard.

Regina liked that look, a lot.

Now Emma's hair had been put up in some sort of knot, help there by a LEGO piece, with long silky strands escaping wildly, making her look a little bit like a mad scientist. Her sweater was gone, she had something streaked and stained down the front of her tank top, and her expression wasn't serene or aroused.

Emma was laughing. She and Henry were in the kitchen, counting the cupcakes on the tray at the table, cracking up. Just looking at them had the tension drained from Regina's shoulders.

"Sorry I'm late," Regina said.

"You had a terrible day?" Emma asked, turning a concerned face her way.

"A sixteen-year-old climbed of the tree and was trying to have sex with the tree because she was learning '_love the trees'. _So she was trying to make love to the tree. That tree was 40feet high. Parents were family friends to my father. So need to go there to talk to her."

"Oh my God."

"She's okay. Grounded for life, but okay."

Emma just stared at Regina. "Wow. That makes my day seem like a piece of cake. Or as it turns out, a cupcake." Emma gestured to the tray. "We had to make two batches. We don't want to talk about batch number one."

Henry giggled and shook his head.

"You _made _them?" Regina asked, impressed.

"Yeah. At the expense of your kitchen."

The kitchen was a complete disaster, like a bomb had gone off. Dishes piled high in the sink, chocolate everywhere. "Hey, at least everyone's still alive," Regina said.

"Well, if that's your only requirement."

Regina smiled. "You smell like a chocolate cupcake."

Maleficent walked into the kitchen, Emma's attention riveted to the open book in Mal's hands.

"Found it, Regina's freshman pic," she said.

"She's the one with braces and black eye. The black eye happened when she let herself when she got into a fight in the school cafeteria with the cheerleaders. She was a lot smaller back then. She was a total loser."

Regina eyed the book. "Is that my yearbook?"

"Relax," Maleficent said. "It's not like I showed her a pic of your tattoo."

Regina rubbed her forehead. "Has she been dishing out my dirty little secrets all day?" she asked Emma.

"Like Candy."

Perfect.

"And tattoo?" Emma asked, her gaze running over Regina's body. "Where?"

"Her ass," Maleficent said helpfully.

Regina covered Henry's ears. "_Hey._"

"Sorry," Maleficent said. "Her Butt."

Emma raised a brow at Regina, clearly trying not to laugh, though whether it was in horror or genuine amusement, Regina had no idea.

"What is it?" Emma asked.

"I lost a bet," Regina said in her own defense. "And I'm not telling."

Now Emma _did _laugh. "I thought you were a late-bloomer, not a reformed bad girl."

Maleficent snorted. "Yes to the nerd. No to the bad girl."

"_I lost a bet_," Regina repeated in her defense. _Jesus. _"It's all Graham's fault."

"You could get it removed," Emma said, "if you're embarrassed."

"I'm not embarrassed." Much. "And besides, not many seen it behind me when I'm…" Regina tightened her grip on Henry's ears. "Bare-assed."

At this, Emma burst out laughing, and the sound made Regina smile in spite of herself. Emma moved to the sink and began washing dishes. Maleficent, apparently allergic to cleaning up anything, ever, suddenly remembered she had to get online for something. Henry climbed onto a chair to help Emma. Regina shook her head. "You know the rule about standing on chairs, Henry." When had been put into place six months ago after an incident involving three stitches above Henry's eyebrow.

"Oh, he's okay," Emma said. "The back of the chair's turned out to keep him from stepping off."

Which is exactly how it'd happened the first time. "It's also that drying sharp knives is a bad idea."

Emma turned to Henry, who was drying a wooden spoon. She arched a brow at Regina. _Overprotective much?_

Regina shook her head, removed her coat and rolled up her sleeves, and joined them. When they were finished, Emma helped Henry down and squatted in front him, her eyes soft and warm. "Sleep tight," she said, hugging him. "Don't let the bed bugs bite."

Henry hugged her back. "Night."

Regina's jaw dropped. _A word_, not a bark.

Emma smiled. Henry smiled back, and the sight of it grabbed Regina by the throat so that she couldn't breathe for a second.

Emma rose and grabbed her sweater, and Regina walked her out. At her car, Emma tried to open the driver's door but it stuck.

"Dammit," she muttered.

"Here, let me—"

"No," she said. "It always sticks. I've got it." Emma yanked hard, and it opened so fast she nearly fell to her ass but Regina caught her.

Regina turned Emma to face her. "You got him to use words."

"I told him that I didn't understand puppy talk." Emma smiled. "You've got a great kid, Regina."

"I know. And thanks," Regina said. "For today. For everything. Have you thought about the guesthouse?"

The moonlight slanted over Emma's features. "Some."

Regina didn't push, not in all the much of a hurry herself to have Emma sleeping so close.

"Tell me how it went today."

Emma looked at Regina for a long moment. "He needs more of you."

Regina drew in a slow, deep breath. "I know."

"And you're right on Tank being the Antichrist, by the way. Although he's possibly cutest Antichrist I've ever seen."

"And?" Because Regina was pretty sure there was one.

"And your sister. She…" Emma shook her head, at a loss for words.

"Yeah," Regina said on a low laugh. "She has that effect on people."

"I think it'd help if you loosened the reins on her a little."

Regina shook her head. "That's the opposite of what she needs."

"What she needs is to be challenged," Emma said. "She's bored. And any bored twenty-one-year-old is trouble. Plus, I don't know how to tell you this, but she's not nearly as stupid as she likes people to believe."

Regina was impressed. "It usually takes people weeks to get her number."

"Hmm." Emma titled her face up to Regina's. _Damn those heels, they gonna be death of me one day._

"Would you still be amused if I told you she said that you're a great Mayor, you're also a control freak, only a so-so mom, a totally crappy sister, and even more totally crappy significant other?"

"No, since it's all mostly true."

Emma studied Regina a long moment. "You want to expand on any of that?"

"You've seen my life, Emma. It's…busy." Regina mouth quirked when Emma snorted at this newsflash. "My schedule's insane, and I _have _to be somewhat of a control freak to keep it all managed."

"Which is what makes you a great mayor."

"And only a so-so mom," Regina said, and Christ how she hated _that _admission. "I'd argue the crappy sister part, but she's pretty much dead on about the rest."

"The significant other?" Emma asked.

"I don't have one, but if I did, yeah, I'd be crappy at that too."

Something crossed Emma's face. Disappointment? That couldn't be. She'd been the first one to say that they weren't going there.

Regina rubbed at the beginning of a headache right between her eyes.

"You're tired," Emma said softly. "Try to get some sleep." And there Emma patted Regina on the arm like she was a pathetic loser.

Regina stared down at her, torn between showing Emma just how _not _tired she was and wanting Emma to leave before she did exactly that.

Emma patted her again, and Regina caught her hand.

Emma stared at Regina's fingers on hers, sighed, and then dropped her forehead to Regina's shoulder. "Do you have to smell good?" Emma asked, voice muffled. "Like, always?"

"I—"

"No, don't answer that." Emma lifted her head and kissed Regina on her cheek. Emma breath was warm, and she still had that cupcake scent going, and damn if her lips didn't linger. Not one to need an engraved invite, Regina turned her head and look at that, her mouth lined right up with hers.

Oh yeah. _This _was what she'd needed. All damn day long. Her tongue teased the corner of Emma's lip. When Emma opened for her, hunger took over, setting Regina on fire. Hauling Emma against her, Regina took control of the kiss, deepening it. Emma rewarded her with a soft moan that said she was there with Regina, and Regina felt a whole hell of a lot better.

Finally, Emma stepped back, smacking up against her car. Laughing at herself, and Regina, too, Regina suspected, Emma got into her car.

Regina watched her drive away, turning only when she heard Maleficent heels hit the porch behind her.

"Where are you going?" Regina asked her.

A truck pulled up to the curb and honked, answering Regina's question.

"He should come to the door for you," Regina said.

"God, you're old," she said. "And he has a name."

They all had names. Regina had discovered it was easier to just think of each of them as the Boy. Still, Michael had staying power. Not surprising, since Maleficent was coming into her settlement.

Regina stopped Maleficent by her purse. "First tell me about today."

"There were no casualties, and your girlfriend managed to stay the whole day without quitting on you."

Regina knew better than to let Mal engage her in a semantics war, so she let the "girlfriend" comment slide. "You were on your best behavior, then."

Maleficent smiled.

Hmmm…

"Like I said, she stuck it out." Maleficent said.

"Maybe tomorrow you can resist doing your best to make me look like an ass," Regina said.

"Maybe tomorrow you could not be one."

"Mal—"

Michael honked again.

Regina slid Mal a look and she shrugged. "He'd come in, but you scare him."

"Bullshit."

"Okay you don't," Maleficent agreed. "But he's got authority issues. Anyway, he did some research and came up with a European itinerary. I emailed it to you."

"What about school?"

"School's dumb," she said.

"No. Dumb is quitting school."

"You don't understand."

Dr. Hopper '_The family therapist' _had told Regina not to pretend to understand. That she was never going to know what it was like to be a hormonal teenage girl who'd lost her parents at a critical age.

What Regina did understand was that, as usual, _she _was the bad guy.

Maleficent walked off toward the truck, and when she was gone, Regina went inside. "Just you and me," she said to Henry. "Ready for bed?"

"_Arf._"

* * *

**_Regina character is complete imagination, please don't compare it with the show. Same applies with Emma. Please no Hating. Regina is just REGINA, not EVIL QUEEN._**

**Next update may take till time. As my works starts tomorrow again. But I will try to update regularly. Am planning to complete this story so will not leave you guys hanging!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** I don't own either the characters or storyline. Inspired by the Jill Shalvis fiction novel I read.

**_I don't have a beta reader so all the grammatical mistakes are my faults. Please post reviews. It is like Glucose for me to write. Am open for any kind of comments._**

**I want to thank everyone for their amazing reviews, for adding the story to their favorites and following it. So here is the new update enjoy. Little angst in the end. But everything will be back to normal for next chapter I promise.**

**Follow Twitter: sbrockz**

* * *

**Chapter 10:**

Emma went back to her room at Mary Margaret that night and sat on the bed while she eyeballed the balance of her checking account on her laptop. Five hundred dollars cash. That's all she had left to her name, unless she broke into her saved-for-a-rainy-day investments. But it wasn't raining, not quite yet. She'd gotten a call for a second interview in Manhattan Police Department, and tomorrow morning was the Skype interview with Philadelphia Police Department. An offer from either of them would change everything.

Until then, she could stay here in Mary Margaret's or she could go to Regina's guesthouse.

It was no contest, really. Besides, by this time next week, she'd probably, hopefully, have one of the jobs.

And a direction.

There was a knock at the door, and she opened it to M&M. She was standing with friendly smile and the plate of chocolate chip cookies in her hands.

"Ruby had extra," Mary said. "I tried to steal 'em but Ruby said I have to give them to you."

Emma tried to take the plate and laughed when Mary didn't let go of it. "Want to come in and share?"

"Hell, yeah." Mary stepped inside. "For a minute there, I was afraid you weren't going to ask me."

They ate cookies and watched a dog training class on laptop. The instructor was saying that there were no bad dogs, just bad dog owners.

"Huh," Emma said, thinking of Tank.

And Tank's bad, hot, and gorgeous of an owner.

"You think an alpha guy can be trained as easily as a dog?" Mary asked.

Emma knows that Mary was referring to David in that minute, definitely an alpha guy, and Emma laughed. "Good luck."

After Mary left, Emma spent a couple of hours on Ruby's shoe box, enjoying the task more than she thought she would. She knew accounting was dry to most, but somehow the numbers soothed her. By the time she went to bed, she had Ruby shockingly organized.

The next morning, Emma showered, dressed, and had her good bye with Mary. She'd be sorry to leave Mary's house. Mary was like elder sister cared her. But, Mary is going to get married and move in with David and Emma doesn't want to be a third wheel.

She drove to Regina's place. It was early but she had that interview, and she wanted to make sure she was set up somewhere with internet.

The front door opened before she knocked. Regina was dressed in her sports bra _wow her skin is so yummy like caramel _and yoga pants, a purse slung over her hand and a duffel bag over the other. To gym and then to work, she figured. Regina was also carrying the cupcakes on a tray and had Henry, with his Avengers backpack, by the hand.

Both mom and kid looked at Emma from twin chocolate gazes, and her heart did a little somersault in her chest. Emma smiled at Henry. "Enjoy the cupcakes."

Regina eyed Emma's own big duffel bag. "You're going to stay in the guesthouse."

"If that's a still okay."

"Very. Give me a minute." Regina walked with Henry to the end of the block just as a yellow school bus pulled up. They both disappeared onto the bus, and then after a few minutes, Regina reappeared without the cupcake tray.

"The bus driver's a friend and few perks of being the Mayor," Regina said to Emma when she'd walked back to the house. "She'll make sure Henry gets into school without getting mobbed on the bus for the cupcakes."

Regina took in Emma's interview suit. "You have an interview today."

"Yes, in an hour."

"I emailed you the file for nanny applicants so far."

Emma nodded. "I'll get on that today and hopefully help you find someone perfect for Henry."

"Thank you." Regina dropped her bags and took hers. "I'll show you the guesthouse. Whatever you do, don't let me come in with you."

"Why not?"

Regina's gaze ran over her body, tingling and heating every inch it touched, and it touched a lot. "It would be a bad idea." Regina said in a voice that scraped over her erogenous zones. "For both of us."

Emma checked her clothes to make sure they hadn't gone up in flames. Regina was right. It would be a very bad idea.

But at the moment, _very bad _was sounding _really great. _Because once again, Regina smelled amazing. Her sports bra strained over her breast, showing of that flat, hard abs. When Regina turned to lead Emma through the house, Sports bra stretched her athletic-looking back. And then there was her butt in those yoga pants. Edible. That's how it looked, and Emma wanted to sink her teeth into—

Regina turned to say something and caught Emma staring. Emma quickly pretended to be watching her own feet. Look at that, her heels were looking a little worn. "Pretty hardwood floors," Emma said.

"You weren't looking at the floor. You were looking at my ass."

Giving up, Emma sighed. "Okay, yes," she said as primly as she could. "But it's impolite of you to point it out."

Regina laughed.

Emma walked past her so that _she _was in the lead, thinking at least now Regina couldn't see her face.

"Emma?" Regina said from behind her.

"Yeah?"

"Your ass is ogle-worthy too."

Emma bit her lower lip to try to keep her smile in and kept walking. "We're being inappropriate again."

"You started it."

Going out the back door, Regina led Emma around the pool to the small guesthouse. There she pushed open the door, dropped Emma's bags inside, and very purposely remained in the entry way.

Regina was right—the place was tiny. But cute. The living room, kitchen, and bedroom were all open to each other, done in soft blues and neutral colors.

"The bed's behind that screen," Regina said, pointing. "The kitchen's minimally supplied. You've got wireless, but the electrical is crap. Can't run the toaster and the heater at the same time. I'll work on that this weekend."

Emma turned to Regina in surprise. In her experience, women were either cerebral or good with their hands. And never the two shall meet. She'd pegged this "Sexy Mayor" as the cerebral type. Not too much of a stretch, given that Regina was a busy woman. "You do electrical?"

Regina gestured to herself. "Not just a pretty face."

This made Emma laugh. "I just meant because you're a Mayor. Mayors usually can't do anything other than…well, just being a Politician."

"Hey, don't judge us all by our pedigree."

Emma met Regina's gaze, knowing she'd just done exactly that. And she of all people knew better. "Are you really not coming in?"

Regina's eyes darkened, and Emma felt wet between her legs. "If I come in, you're going to miss your interview."

Emma's heart skipped a beat. "Oh."

Regina's mouth curved very slightly. "Not in our best interests dear." She said softly, giving Emma another of those searing looks that made her knees wobble. "Lock the door behind me, Ms. Swan."

When Regina was gone, Emma let out a shaky breath and locked the door. She looked over her new place and felt…right at home. She'd had a lovely childhood home back West but she hadn't lived there in years. She'd gone to college, then on to her own places, none of which she'd stayed in too long. She'd attributed that to restlessness, the need to climb the ladder of success. But it'd never mattered what size her place had been or how much it cost; she'd never really found home.

Obviously, this wasn't it either, but the fact that she wanted to unpack and nest remained her that it had been a damn long time since she'd felt at home like this.

Too long.

"A week," she said out loud to remind herself what she told Regina. "This is only for a week."

Emma did her Skype Interview and scored a request to come to the Philadelphia offices for an in-person interview in a few days. Then she texted her parents with the news. She wasn't a complete loser! After that, she left for her modeling job, dropping Maleficent in town at the girl's request.

To Emma's surprise, Maleficent was waiting for her car when she came back out of the gallery an hour later. "Aw," she said to the frowning Maleficent. "You missed me. How sweet."

Maleficent snorted and got into Emma's car, then sat there like a queen while Emma was loading all her stuff into the car.

Emma gave her a long look, and Maleficent lifted her hands. "Sorry! But people like to help me, you know? Makes them look good for helping Mayor's sister." She smiled sweetly.

Emma shook her head. "Don't give me that crap. You were totally amusing yourself by watching me fumble with your shit."

"Or that." Maleficent grinned. "You and Regina are the only ones to call me on this stuff, you know that?"

"What else does Regina call you on?"

Maleficent shrugged. "She says I'm not good at toeing the line. And that she'd get me a car to drive but that I'm angry to be on the road."

"So get unangry. Learn to toe the line. I could teach you. Once upon a time, I was most excellent at toeing the line. At least the pretense of it."

"She treats me like a child."

"Then stop acting like one." Emma said. "And while we're on the subject, she cares about you very much. You know that, right?"

Maleficent shrugged.

"I figured you didn't know, seeing as you treat her the way you do."

"And how do I treat her?" Maleficent asked.

"How do you think?"

Another shrug.

"I bet if you treated her nicer, she'd loosen up a bit with reins," Emma said.

"She's not the boss of me."

"So you can do whatever you want."

"Exactly," Maleficent said.

"And what is it that you want?"

Maleficent didn't answer for so long that Emma figured she wasn't going to get one. But then Maleficent finally spoke. "I want my mom and dad back."

Emma kept her eyes on the road but her throat went tight as she nodded. "I can only imagine. But it makes me doubly glad you have other family. Henry, for instance."

"Yeah, the rug rat's pretty cute."

"And Regina," Emma said.

Maleficent turned away and looked out the window. "Anyone ever tell you that you drive like a girl?"

"I am a girl. Don't you have class today?"

"Missed the bus."

"I'll drive you."

"Missed class already."

Emma looked at her. "Call me crazy, but I'm getting the feeling you don't like you're cooking and writing classes."

"Gee, ya think?"

"So why don't you go for something more challenging?"

"Like?"

"Like a degree," Emma said.

Maleficent rolled her eyes.

"What interests you?" Emma asked.

"Getting home to see if Michael's there."

"Is he a good guy? Good to you?"

A shrug. "Yeah."

"What do you like about him?"

"He's hot."

"Boys are like drugs," Emma said. "You're supposed to just say no."

This earned Emma another eye roll.

Emma sighed and took her home.

Emma went to the guesthouse and opened her laptop, where she began to weed through the interested applicants for the nanny position. First up was a patient in Regina owned practice, and all she wanted to know was if Regina was still single. Delete. The next applicant was sixty-five and had asked if there was a retirement plan.

Also deleted.

Feeling somewhat discouraged and desperate, Emma finally found two semi-promising applicants and set up interviews for Regina. Then she got Henry from the bus.

"Arf," he said in greeting.

"Arf," she said back. "But I was sort of hoping we could speak in English today too. 'Cause we're going to make pizza for dinner, and dogs don't eat pizza!"

"I like pizza!"

She smiled, took his hand, and walked him the half block home. They worked on his handwriting and made pizza, and after that, worked on their Avengers skills, dueling in the living room.

"Gotta be the bestest Avenger in all the universe," Henry told her, swinging his toy hammer imitating Thor.

"Awesome," Emma said. "Why?"

"'Cause if I'm the bestest, then my dad'll come or mom will get other mommy."

Emma hunkered before him and stroked a lock of hair from his face. "Actually I think you are already are the bestest Avenger in the universe."

He beamed at her for the compliment but went back to practicing. _Swoosh, vrrmm-swoosh._

Regina got home at eight, looking hot as hell in dark red shirt, black pencil skirt and black pumps, her hair was little rumpled, her eyes tired and unguarded. Henry and Tank jumped her on the spot, and three of them jumped on each other. Regina was tickling Henry until suddenly Henry sat straight up, looking green.

"Uh-oh," he said, and threw up on Regina's heels.

Regina grimaced but handled the situation with calm efficiency, scooping up a distraught Henry, cleaning the mess, and corralling the crazy pug that was running worried circles around a sniffling Henry. Finally, Regina sat the now-shirtless Henry on the kitchen counter and handed him a glass of water. "What did you have for dinner?"

"Pizza," Emma said.

Regina slid Emma a look.

"No pepperoni," Emma said quickly. "It was on his list of no-nos. Just sausage."

"He's allergic to pork."

Oh, shit. _Double shit. _"It didn't say that on the list. It just said salami and pepperoni."

"Because he doesn't like sausage."

Emma looked at Henry, who was clutching his hulk and staring at his bare feet. And she got it. He'd wanted to please her.

Triple shit. She was such a idiot. "I'm so sorry. Do we need to do anything?"

"I think his body took care of it," Regina said dryly. "And where was Maleficent? She should have known better."

"She went out with friends."

"She was supposed to stay home tonight."

"She said she'd be back before she turned into a pumpkin." Emma told her. "An exact quote."

Regina's mouth was grim but she kept her thought on the matter to herself. Emma busied herself picking up the disaster that the house had somehow become over the past few hours. In the living room, in the middle of the chaos, Tank lay on the couch. He was on his back, feet straight up in the air like he was dead, snoring away.

"You don't have to clean up," Emma said, coming into the room behind her, stopping her from picking up by taking her hand in hers and pulling Emma around to face her.

Emma stared down at Regina as time stuttered to a stop for a second. Yearning, Aching…

She looked into Emma's eyes, then broke the spell with clear reluctance, stepping back from her as Regina noticed the puppy, looking like road kill. "How the hell did he learn how to get up on the couch?"

Henry had spent the better part of an hour teaching the pug how to jump that high. Emma nudged the sleepy Tank down, earning a reproachful look and a soft snort. "Sorry about Maleficent," she said to Regina. "But maybe if you let up on her just a little—"

"You're Henry's babysitter. Not mine."

Right. Gee, she'd almost forgotten there for a moment. Well, clearly she'd done enough here for the night. She grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

"Emma—"

"It's late," Emma said. She'd had a lifetime to learn how to read the people around her, down to the slightest nuances. Her parents' moods had been quiet, subtle. So she knew exactly when she'd overstayed her welcome. And that was now. "Night, Madame Mayor."

* * *

**_Regina character is complete imagination, please don't compare it with the show. Same applies with Emma. Please no Hating. Regina is just REGINA, not EVIL QUEEN._**

**I may not have a quick update, As I work full-time I will try my level best to update. Sorry. Thank you.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I don't own either the characters or storyline. Inspired by the Jill Shalvis fiction novel I read.

_**I don't have a beta reader so all the grammatical mistakes are my faults. Please post reviews. It is like Glucose for me to write. Am open for any kind of comments.**_

**Follow Twitter: sbrockz**

* * *

**Chapter 11:**

The next night when Regina got home, Henry was just getting out of the tub. Emma made a quiet escape to the pool house, which Regina knew was to give her some alone time with her son.

Or Emma wasn't all that interested to be in her company.

Her fault, of course. She'd been an ass the night before. "Henry," she said, "get into your pj's. I'll be right back." She paused, watching Henry pull on his pj bottoms, sans underwear.

"What's with the commando thing?"

Henry shrugged. "Feels best."

Hard to argue with that. "Pick out a book. Give me five minutes." She walked through the house and caught up with Emma at the back door. "Hey."

"Hey yourself." Emma smiled, and it was sweet, if not quite meeting her eyes.

Also Regina's fault. She searched for a way to make it right and came up with nothing. Which really, she figured, was for the best.

"Well," Emma said, a little too brightly, "see you tomorrow—"

Suddenly unable to let Emma go until she'd at least _tried_ to fix this, she caught Emma's hand in hers.

Emma went still, even dug her heels in a little as Regina turned Emma to face her.

"I was an ass last night," Regina said.

Emma met her gaze and felt Regina's struggle. Emma told herself not to care, but she couldn't help herself. "You were tired."

"Okay, so I was a tired ass. I'm still sorry."

This time when Emma smiled at her, it was a real one. Emma had no idea what it was about Regina who could say she was sorry…

"Everything go okay today?" Regina asked.

"You have two interviews for babysitters on Friday."

Regina nodded. "Good, Thank you. You want to sit in?"

"I'll be in Philadelphia on an interview myself."

Something came and went in Regina's eyes—regret?—but she nodded. "Your Skype interview went well, then."

"Very." Emma gotten the call today that they'd liked her and wanted another interview.

"That's great," Regina said.

"Yeah." Emma was trying to work up some enthusiasm. It was, after all, her future, and she wanted a good one. But she also wanted to stop thinking about it. It wasn't hard to distract herself with the view.

She could tell by Regina's dress clothes that she'd worked in city hall today. Regina wore dark pencil skirt that fit her butt and legs perfectly—which Emma knew because she'd checked it out when Regina bent to pick up Henry earlier. Regina's button-down was dark chocolate brown and showed the curves in a very sinful way. Regina's eyes… Her eyes gave Emma a lot, telling Emma how much she'd seen, done, been through. When Regina looked like this, a little rumpled, a lot tired, it softened her features, allowing Emma to see more of her than Regina probably like. Regina didn't feel quite so impenetrable to Emma tonight. She felt…human. Just a regular woman, a woman who'd most likely saved the city crisis today, probably more than that. Regina did more everyday than Emma could possibly imagine, and Emma admired Regina for it, greatly.

Emma also wanted to hug Regina. Instead, Emma reached up to push a lock of hair behind Regina's ear, then caught herself. But before she could pull back, Regina wrapped her fingers around Emma's wrist and slowly reeled her in.

"Thank you for today," Regina said quietly, her other hand going to Emma's waist.

Emma stared at the ground, trying not to notice how her pulse had leaped. "You don't have to keep thanking me. You're paying me."

"I'll do both. And speaking of paying you…"

"Uh-oh," Emma said, tilting her head up to Regina's.

"I think I need another week to find the right nanny," Regina said. "You up for that?"

Was Emma up for a second week of being overpaid and having another excuse to put off her life? "Sure."

"Arf, arf, arf!" came Henry's bark.

"Arf, arf, arf!" came another bark.

Henry's

Regina dropped her forehead to Emma's shoulder and sighed.

"He spoke English all day," Emma said. "Until you came home."

Regina lifted her head and looked at her. "So it's me. He's barking because of me."

Emma hesitated, knowing she had to tell Regina but hating to add to her full plate of things to worry about. "You know he wants to be an Avenger, right?"

"_Everyone _in Storybrooke knows he wants to an Avenger."

"Yes, but did you know he wants to be the best Jedi warrior ever so that his other mommy or his dad will come home?"

Regina stared at Emma for a blink, then closed her eyes. "Shit."

The barking increased in intensity, and Regina pulled free. "I have to go."

"I know." And Emma did know. A woman like Regina would always have to go: to work, to her family…to everyone but the woman in Regina's life she didn't have time for, or want.

Emma knew this. She'd been okay with this. So when exactly had that begun to change?

The next morning, Emma woke up early to work on Bella's books for her pottery shop. It was icy cold, so she cranked up the heat and then went to the kitchen, where she'd stowed the few groceries she'd brought yesterday. Trying to decide between yogurt and a bagel, she thumbed through her texts, stopping at one from her father.

**Hi Pumpkin, your mother tells me how well you're doing. Expect to hear great things from you! Keep it up. Love, Dad.**

Still staring at the text, she popped a bagel into the toaster. Something sizzled, and then the lights went out. And then Regina's words came back to her, a little too late.

_Can't use the heater and the toaster at the same time._

"_Crap." _There wasn't much to see by, just the predawn light flittering in through the windows.

No Flames. That was good. But what if she'd started an electrical fire in the walls? Worried, she threw on a robe and ran for the big house. The back slider was locked, but she could see through the living room to the kitchen table. Henry was sitting on it , Indian-style, with Tank in his lap. The tow of them were eating cereal out of a huge plastic container. The same huge plastic container.

Not a surprise. Tank loved anything edible. Especially if Henry was eating it.

Emma waved. Tank leaped off the table and came barreling at her. Losing traction, he slid on the tile floor and crashed face-first into the slider door. Bouncing back on his butt, he sat there a moment, dazed, before shaking his oversized head, barking at her.

Emma, who'd been working with him on commands since she'd seen that doggie training show, pointed to him. "Tank, quiet."

Tank sat.

He did not, however, stop barking. Emma sighed and caught Henry's eye, gesturing to the locked door.

This went no better than it had the last time she'd been locked out. Apparently thinking she was waving, Henry waved back, then arched his Hulk through the air.

"Henry. Come open the door."

He finished whooshing first, then having apparently satisfied himself that he'd thoroughly impressed her, opened the door.

Tank was still barking.

"Tank, quiet! Henry, where's your mom?"

Henry pointed in the vague direction of the hall. Emma headed that way. The first door—Henry's—was open, revealing a bedroom that looked like a disaster zone of epic proportions.

Maleficent's door was shut.

Regina's bedroom was at the end, partially open, allowing Emma to peek in. And oh, goodness, there she was, sprawled out flat on her back in the middle of the bed. She was in a negligee, and the sheets rode low enough on her hips to reveal a mouth-watering chest, hard nipples peeking out, and happy trail that vanished beneath the sheet and made Emma want to do the same.

Probably Regina was not wearing any panties, and just the thought gave Emma a hot flash. "Regina?"

Regina didn't move, so Emma stepped into the room. She set a hand on Regina's shoulder, but before she could say Regina's name again, Regina grabbed Emma and tugged hard, rolling Emma beneath her.

Yep, Regina was not wearing any panties.

Very, very hot.

"Mmm," Regina rumbled. "Like the robe. It's soft." Dipping her head, Regina nipped at Emma's throat. "I'm over the no-kissing thing, Emma. I want a new deal."

Emma let out a breathless laugh, her hands wandering over Regina's hips and back the shoulders because, hello, she was only human. Regina was warm and solid and felt so good nuzzling her neck. Not at all sure Regina wasn't still in dreamland, Emma nudged her. "You awake?"

"Shit." Regina jumped. "Yes. And Henry's probably up."

Emma suddenly felt cold, missing the warm above her. "Henry is up. He's eating an entire box of cereal out of the same bowl as Tank."

"Perfect." Regina rolled off her and then stood-still removing her nightie very naked, impressively so. And utterly unconcerned about it in the way that only a woman could possibly be.

"Um," Emma said, losing her train of thought, telling herself to close her eyes and preserve Regina's modesty.

But Emma didn't close her eyes.

Regina grabbed a pair of jeans off a chair and pulled them on, adjusting herself in that skin tight jeans and giving Emma another hot flash.

_Think, Emma. You came here for a reason._

"I've got a problem."

"What now? Mal?"

"No."

Regina finished buttoning her fly. She stood there, hair tousled, no shirt, just in a bra and low-riding skinny jeans, and it was damn hard to think. "I turned on the heater and—"

Regina lifted her head. "Not the toaster."

"And the toaster," Emma admitted.

"Shit, Emma." Regina headed out the door.

"Sorry!" feeling like an idiot, she flopped back into Regina's bed, staring at the ceiling. _Such an idiot. _And since she was, she rolled over and pressed her face into Regina's still-warm pillow, inhaling her in.

"What are you doing?"

Emma squeaked in horrified surprise at Regina's voice and leaped off the bed to find her in the doorway.

"Were you going back to sleep in my bed?" Regina asked, looking amused.

And since that was far less embarrassing than, the truth, Emma lifted a shoulder. Noncommittal.

Not fooled, Regina shook her head and tugged Emma up to go with her to check on the guesthouse. Henry tagged along as well, wanting to see the "big fire!"

Luckily there was no fire. There was no fire at all. She'd only tripped an electrical breaker, but she'd learned her lesson. And that lesson was, don't go to Regina bedroom or she'd see things that she wanted but couldn't have.

"I wanted to put out the big flames with my shield," Henry said, disappointed. "That'd make me the bestest avenger ever." He paused. "After you, momma. 'Cause you're the first bestest."

Emma's heart cracked in two, and she looked at Regina. Regina crouched before Henry, hands on his skinny little hips. Henry stared down at his battered Avengers athletic shoes.

Regina put a finger beneath Henry's chin and gently tilted up his head. "You're already the best warrior there is, Little Man. The very best."

"I'm too small to be the bestest. I want to be as big as you."

"It's not about size."

"It's 'cause I don't have a daddy. Sam and Tommy and Hansel and Gretel, they all have daddies. Hansel's mommy told Tommy's mommy that I don't have one because you wouldn't share me."

Regina didn't say anything for a moment. When she spoke, her voice was a little hoarse, but it was filled with conviction. "This might be hard for you to understand, but once in a very great while, sharing isn't the best thing to do."

"But everybody has a daddy and mommy or mommy and mommy or daddy and daddy," Henry said. "How can I be the bestest avenger with just one?"

"I don't have mommy or daddy," Regina told him. "Does that make me less of a Avenger?"

Henry shook his head adamantly. "No, you're still the bestest, Momma."

"Then how about we be tied?"

Henry thought about that, then nodded solemnly. When Regina opened her arms, Henry walked right into them, curling tightly into Henry's chest.

Emma didn't drop to her knees and crawl into Regina's arms too.

But she wanted to.

Regina watched her son run back to the big house ahead of her and Emma, not surprised when Emma stopped her with a question in her eyes.

"Tommy's mom knew Henry's dad." Regina said quietly. "But she had only one side of the story."

"What 's the other side?"

"The other side of the story isn't relevant," Regina finally said.

"I hear ya," Emma said softly, making Regina wonder what kind of story Emma had.

But it was none of her business, even if Emma was staring at her with those gorgeous, heart-baring eyes. Open. Sweet.

Welcoming.

Regina could drown in Emma if she let herself. The trick was not to let herself.

On Friday, Regina got up at 4.00am to squeeze in a rock climb with Graham. It'd been weeks since she'd gone, and she needed the icy predawn air, the Mountains…Plus Graham had said he'd kick Regina's ass if she didn't show.

Not too worried about that ridiculous threat. Regina got ready. She'd seen David yesterday when their paths had crossed in the hospital, and David had claimed that Graham had been seen muttering something about diamond rings.

Regina had to hear this for herself. She checked on a sleeping Henry, then made sure Mal was in her room. She left her a note reminding her that she'd promised to get Henry dressed, fed and to the bus stop on time.

As she quietly exited the house, she was surprised to see Emma heading toward her car as well. "What's up?" Regina asked.

"Heading to Philadelphia," Emma said. "It's an early interview, and it's a long drive."

Three hours. Emma was wearing another suit pants that was all business. Her hair was in a blonde curls. It was quite a different appearance than the bathrobe look she'd rocked a few days before, which Regina loved. But Regina loved this too. Emma looked like a million bucks, which wasn't why Regina ached at the sight of her. Regina didn't care what Emma wore. There was just something about Emma that made Regina feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Like she couldn't wait to see beyond the packaging, couldn't wait to touch. And not just physically, which was what really disconcerted her.

Regina wanted to touch Emma from the inside out, which made no fucking sense at all. "Good luck today," Regina said. "I hope you get what you want."

"It's not what I want. It's what I require," Emma said, and when Regina arched a brow, Emma sighed. "Never mind. It's just one of those things my parents always say. Requirements need to be met before needs."

Regina gave Emma a longer look, beyond the pretty packaging now, and realized Emma was taut with tension. "You don't talk much about yourself or your past," Regina said.

"Nothing really to talk about."

"Everyone has something in their past to talk about."

Emma lifted a shoulder. "I had a boring childhood."

Emma was even better than Regina was at protecting herself. Interesting. "Doesn't sound boring, what with the rocket scientist and all…"

Another shrug. And though Regina hated when people pushed her for answers she didn't want to give, she couldn't help but push Emma. "What about after your childhood?"

Emma gaze slid to her. "You mean like college? Jobs? Girlfriends? Which?"

"Yes."

Emma let out a short laugh. "I went to college in New York. Then got a job at Local PD with a nice place to live, a few girlfriends, yada yada. My parents were proud. The end. That answer all your questions?"

Not even close. Emma was suddenly as defensive as hell, and Regina was good at reading the symptoms and coming up with conclusions. Emma hadn't been as happy as she'd wanted to be. "Parental Expectations suck."

This forced another laugh out of Emma. "A little bit, yeah. But they just want the best for me. They always have."

Regina knew the value of silence, and she was rewarded when Emma sighed. "I'm adopted," Emma said. "So this whole being an overachieving genius isn't exactly natural for me."

Regina absorbed what Emma said, and all she didn't—that Emma clearly didn't feel she was equipped with the right genes to be on the same level as her adoptive family. Just the thought of Emma feeling that way gave Regina a physical ache in her chest. "I hope that they took into account what your hopes and dreams for yourself were, not just theirs."

"What they took into the account was that my IQ was high enough to do well for myself."

"They had your IQ tested?" Regina asked.

"When I was in middle school, to help determine my career path."

"When you were in middle school," Regina repeated. In middle school, Regina's mom took her to stables with her, not had her brain tested.

"There's no time to waste when you have high achieving to do," Emma said.

"In middle school?"

"Hey, they love me," Emma said. "In their own way."

"By making you try to be like them?"

"Not exactly like them," Emma said. "I never did quite get the hang of science, which was a huge disappointment. And anyway, I wanted to be like them."

No doubt this was a big part of why Emma worked so hard at finding the right job now. To please them. To show she deserved the Swan name.

Regina didn't give a shit how smart Emma's family was; she wanted to wrap her hands around their necks and rattle the teeth out of their heads for seeing that baby they'd adopted had grown into an amazing woman.

"What about you?" Emma asked. "Did your parents expect a lot from you?"

"They expected me to be happy."

"Aw." Emma mouth curved into a soft smile. "That's just about the loveliest thing I've ever heard. So are you? Happy?"

Well if that wasn't the million-dollar question and far too complicated to answer all this hour. Instead, Regina took the computer case from her and set it on Emma's backseat before opening her driver's door. The door didn't stick for Regina, and Emma rolled her eyes. "I shouldn't be surprised that you're good with your hands," Emma said.

Regina's smile heated, and Emma put her hands to her hot cheeks. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded."

"it's okay. It's true. I'm very good with my hands."

Emma gave Regina a laughing shove. "It doesn't matter how good you are," Emma said. "Since we're not going there."

Yeah. Damn.

Emma looked away, then back into Regina's eyes.

"I'll be back in time to get Henry from the bus stop."

"Thanks, I got a bunch more calls on the nanny position."

"Want me to weed out the crazies?" Emma asked.

"More than I want my next breath."

Emma laughed again, and the sound of it made Regina to smile. "Let me know if you need anything," Regina said.

"What about if you need something?" Emma asked.

"W-What?"

"What if you need anything, Madame Mayor? You're always the one doing all the caregiving—in your job, here at your house, practice, everywhere. I realize I'm not exactly the best nanny/dog walker, but I'd be happy to help, if you need anything…"

Something actually fluttered in Regina's chest. "You are the perfect nanny/dog walker," Regina said. "But I'm not all that great with accepting help."

Emma mouth quirked. "Tell me something I don't know." She patted Regina on the shoulder, got into her car, and in her sexy suit and boots, drove off.


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay I deserve my ass to be kicked. I am sorry for the delay. I had some office documents to complete. Not, only that I have to be alone when I write this. I know I know these are just excuses. But I promise to post more frequently. I had to up the rating to 'M'. This is my first time writing anything like this. So, People please go easy on me.**

**I don't own the characters or the show or storyline.**

P.S.: I am looking for a Beta member. It would be great if someone can help me out here.

* * *

**Chapter 12:**

On Monday morning, Emma got up early for a few hours of floral deliveries, and then an hour with Jefferson, the local hats & caps store owner. His bookkeeping system had crashed, and he needed her help. When she asked why he'd called her, he'd said, "because everyone knows you're the go-to accountant in town." She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

She'd just gotten back to Regina's place and was slipping out of her boots when she heard the knock at the door. She looked out the glass into the dawn's purple glow and felt her heart leap. It was Regina, dressed for her office in dark skirt, a dark slate button-down, and a dark edgy expression. Emma opened the door, and because they were chronic idiots, they stared at each other before she stepped back to let Regina in. Regina shook her head. Right. She wasn't coming in. Because it was a bad idea. Disappointed, Emma bent to pick up her laptop bag, and when she straightened, she collided with Regina. Who'd apparently changed her mind about coming in. Emma's hands went to Regina's slim hips to keep her balance, and the warmth of Regina's radiated through her body. Maybe Emma's hands slid over Regina, just a little. Or a lot. Emma couldn't help herself. Regina had a great body. toned stomach too.

Emma's fingers wandering... "Emma." Regina's voice sounded husky and just a little tight as she grabbed Emma's hands, making Emma realize they'd been headed south. "I'm sorry." Emma tried to snatch them free, but Regina held on.

"I guess I'm feeling a little conflicted about what I want here," Emma murmured.

"So the mixed signals," Regina said. "You're doing that on purpose?"

"No." Emma paused. "Maybe." She grimaced. "I don't know."

"It's okay, take your time." Regina backed Emma up against the doorjamb.

"You just let me know when you decide." At the connection of Regina's body to hers from chest to thighs and everything in between, Emma heard herself whimper in pleasure, the sound shocking in its need and hunger.

"Maybe I was hasty about the not-going-there not-going-there thing," Emma whispered.

"Maybe the not-going-there thing needs to be temporarily revisited." Regina eyes were still dark. Still edgy.

"You have my undivided attention." Actually, Emma didn't. Regina's hands were gliding down her legs and back up again, beneath the hem of her t-shirt now.

"Regina?"

"Still here." No kidding. Regina's fingers. Lord, her fingers.

"Kiss me," Emma managed.

"That'll help me figure this out—" Emma hadn't even finished the sentence before Regina raised her head and covered Emma's mouth with hers. Gentle. Then not so gentle, and when Emma kissed Regina back, she felt the growl reverberate deep inside Regina's chest, a soulful, hungry sound that made her go damp.

"Decide anything yet?" Regina asked, her voice thrillingly rough when she pulled back. "Another minute." Emma tugged Regina back to her.

Apparently that worked for Regina because she kissed her, her mouth open on Emma's, igniting flames along Emma's every nerve ending. Her purse clunked to the floor, and Regina arms wound up around Emma's neck, her hands gliding into her hair. Emma's hands were just as possessive, going straight to Regina's bottom, squeezing, then lifting her up. The only barrier between them being her pants and Regina's skirt, which was hiked high enough now that it was really only her panties.

"Henry? Where's Henry?"

"Already on the bus." Regina's mouth was busy at her ear, her movements were driving Emma crazy, as she was practically grinding against Emma's pelvis.

"Mal—" Emma gasped.

"In her cave, probably still sleeping. Or stirring her cauldron." Regina slapped her hand to the lock on the door. The click of it sliding home hung in the air along with their heavy breathing as they stared at each other.

"So we're doing this?" Emma asked.

"We're—" Emma broke off on a startled gasp when Regina started grinding more harder.

At that minute something snapped in Emma. She pulled Regina's shirt and started struggling with the buttons, but finally she was successful.

"So we are. We're doing this." Regina let the material slip away, baring her bra-covered breasts. With a rough groan, Emma dipped her head and kissed Regina's collarbone. Then lower.

Emma unsnapped the bra hook and let it fall.

When Emma licked a nipple as if Regina were a decadent dessert, Regina heard herself sigh in sheer pleasure. Emma pulled back just enough to blow lightly on Regina's wet skin, eliciting a bone-deep shiver.

"You're going to be late for work," Emma murmured, while Regina was pulling Emma's shirt up. In her impatience, Regina tore off the t-shirt. Emma's mouth was on her, gliding from one nipple to the other, then gently nibbling, and Regina didn't respond. Quivering from head to toe, she arched back against the wall, giving Emma more access. Emma made a pop sound as she left licking the nipple.

"Regina."

"You're right," Regina said silkily, giving Emma a teasing nip as she was rocking against Emma.

"I'm going to be late."

Emma let out an unintelligible sound as she was nibbling Regina's nipple like it was a candy, and Regina tried to clear her head so she can give an answer. She shaked her head slightly.

"Tell me you want this, Emma. Because I do. At this moment, I'm right where I want to be." Regina kissed her way to the outer shell of Emma's ear, her breath hot, chasing a shiver down Emma's spine. At the moment… Emma understood the words, understood the meaning behind them.

"I want this," Emma said, pressing against her.

"I want you." Emma running her fingers over Regina's toned stomach, which quivered at her touch. Regina's skirt was pretty much a belt around her waist by now. No deterrent for Emma, who dipped her head, taking in the bright red lace thong. "God bless Victoria Secrets," Emma said. Regina laughed. Emma had one hand on Regina's ass, the other on her breast, which was still wet from Emma's mouth. Regina was halfway to orgasm, and she was laughing. So was Emma.

Then their eyes met. The laughter faded, replaced by a driving need to do this. Turning, Emma gently pushed Regina to the couch. Emma followed her down, covering Regina's body with her own as she kissed her, Emma's warm hands shoving her skirt up a little more, her fingers sliding to the edge of Regina's panties. And then beneath.

"I love your skirts," Emma said against her mouth.

"You always look so cool and calm, except for your eyes. Your eyes show it all."

"My panic?"

"Your passion," Emma breathed.

"For everything."

"I—" Regina gasped when Emma slid a finger into her. Then again when it left her, but before she could make a protest, Emma was back with two fingers, her thumb stroking right over the center of her gravity.

"Oh my God."

"Good?" She bit Emma's shoulder rather than cry out with exactly how good it was.

"So wet," Emma said hoarsely, her fingers working magic, stroking Regina just right so that the pressure built shockingly fast.

"Emma—" Emma kissed her deep, her tongue mimicking her fingers, moving in the same unhurried motion as Regina writhed beneath her, lost, completely gone. When she came, it shocked her into crying out Emma's name as she rode the wave. Emma stayed with her to the end, patient enough to let her come down at her own speed. When she blinked Regina into view, she didn't know whether to be embarrassed or thank her.

"Has it really been a long time for you since you did this?" Regina managed. "You don't seem out of practice."

"Like getting back on a bike…" Before Emma can slid down her body. Regina flipped there positions, and Emma was shocked with Regina's strength. Someone so small but still so much strength. Regina hooked his fingers in the hooks of my jeans low on her hips and slowly pulled them down her legs, with her own panties falling off.

"I—" Emma started, with no idea where she was going with that sentence because Regina put a big palm on each leg and spread them for her viewing pleasure. Leaning in, she kissed first one inner thigh, then the other. And then in between.

"Um—" Again, Emma broke off, unable to remember what the hell she'd wanted to say. She couldn't even remember her own name. She was rocking up into Regina's mouth, biting her lip to keep herself quiet. This wasn't quite effective; she was still making noises, horrifyingly needy noises and little hurry-up whispers and pants as she burst.

"Oh my God." Regina crawled up her body and kissed her.

"Oh my God good?"

"Amazing."

"Amazing works. Emma…" She met Regina gaze and saw the seriousness in it.

"What?"

"You are very beautiful!" Emma blushed on that statement

Sitting up, Emma pushed Regina back and straddled her.

"Emma—"

"Shhh," she said, kissing her way down Regina's incredible chest, paying special homage to every part of the tan skin she came across. As if she was mapping her and marking Regina.

"Since you're already late…" When Emma scraped her teeth over one of Regina's nipples, he sucked in a breath. Her head thunked back to the couch as she let out a heartfelt groan, her hands going straight to Emma's ass. Clearly, it was Regina's favorite part of her anatomy. As for Regina's anatomy, Emma couldn't possibly pick one favorite part. Regina's entire body was an erotic playground. She spent a moment on her toned stomach and navel dip, licking Regina like a lollipop, then slid farther to her knees on the hardwood floor. She pulled the red thong off Regina's legs. This elicited another rough sound from Regina as the cool air heat her hot center. Leaning over Regina, Emma began to kiss her way up the center, prompting Regina to slide her hands in Emma's hair and— Regina phone went off.

"Ignore it," Emma said hoarsely. She nodded and readjusted her grip, starting again with her tongue. Regina's fingers tightened in her hair, more a show of need than domination, as she didn't try to direct her. Regina groaned, and then… her phone buzzed again.

"Fuck." She let go of Emma and went to fish through her purse, pulling out her phone, glaring at it. "Fuck." Regina sagged back and stared up at the ceiling. Emma rose up on her knees and looked at her.

"Problem?"

"I have to go." But Regina didn't move.

"Regina?"

"Yeah." Regina let out a slow breath and straightened, pulling Emma off the floor and into her lap. She held Emma close for a minute, kissed her shoulder, then her neck while she straightened out Emma's hair. When Regina was done with that, she kissed Emma's mouth. She sighed again, then set Emma on the couch next to her and got to her feet. She pulled thong up and adjusted her skirt, which appeared to be very uncomfortable. Shaking her head, she made an adjustment, then grabbed her shirt from the floor. She put it on inside out, swore, yanked it off, then righted it and tried again.

"You going to work like that?" she asked. Regina looked down at Emma confused.

"Your hair looks like you were freshly fucked." Regina snorted, and Emma found herself laughing again. She was trying to remember that they weren't well suited, that she was the opposite of everything Emma ever wanted, but it wasn't working. Not even close. She wanted to tug down Regina's skirt and finish what she started.

"Christ, Emma," Regina said on a groan.

"Don't look at me like that." Regina closed her eyes. "I'm standing here trying to mentally recite the chemical elements to calm down, and you're looking at me like you want to eat me for breakfast." Emma slapped a hand over her eyes.

"Oh my God. I was not."

"Yeah, you were." Okay, Emma had been doing exactly that.

"Sorry!" Emma paused, lowering her hands. "And you can recite the chemical elements?"

Regina's hands gripped Emma's arms and hauled her up against her. She kissed Emma and said, very quietly, very seriously,

"We okay?"

"Well." Emma gave her an embarrassed smile.

"I am…" Letting out a laugh, Regina let her go and turned for the door. Her cell phone was vibrating from the depth of her purse again. Regina was already on it before the door shut behind her.

Emma took a moment to fix herself, even though the truth was she needed a lot more than a moment. Her hair was a complete wreck, her body still quivering, but she couldn't seem to get rid of the grin that came from giving two orgasms and getting an amazing one back. She did the best she could to look presentable and entered the big house, nearly tripping over Maleficent.

"Sorry!" Maleficent studied her for a beat. "You just missed Regina."

Emma worked on looking innocent as they went into the kitchen. "Oh?" Mal shook her head. "Amateur."

Emma sagged, giving up the pretense.

Tank was jumping up and down in hopeful entreaty behind his baby gate, snuffling and snorting. Emma released him from his doggie prison. The puppy immediately caught sight of the Hulk Green Figure lying on one of the chairs and began posturing, growling fiercely at it.

"You drive them crazy," Maleficent said. "You know that, right?"

"It's the toy." Maleficent rolled her eyes. "My sister. You drive my sister crazy."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that's you." Emma gave Tank the signal to sit. He didn't. Instead, he barked. Emma took a doggie cookie out of a container on the counter. "Sit." Tank rolled over. Twice. "Tank, sit." Tank offered her a paw to shake, and Emma gave up.

"So," Maleficent said, "Are you going to fall for Regina like the other nannies? Because I don't recommend it. Falling for her is the fastest route to getting fired. Or dumped."

"What are you talking about?" Tank whirled in circles, then rolled again, clearly going through his entire repertoire of tricks for another cookie.

"Didn't you interview your employer before you took the job?" Maleficent asked Emma.

"Well, I…" Not this time, she hadn't. "This job sort of happened in a hurry." Plus she hadn't wanted to probe. Which was entirely different from not wanting to know. Because she did want to know. Bad.

"You never wondered why none of your predecessors are still around?" Maleficent asked. "Or why such a great girl with such a great family"— she stopped here to flash a grin so similar to Regina's that Emma blinked—" can't keep a nanny? Or a girlfriend? It's because they all fall hard for her. And she doesn't have a heart, so she doesn't fall back."

"Wow," Emma said. "I know. You really need to get it together."

"No, I mean you're pretty mean. Anyone ever tell you that?" Maleficent didn't seem to take this personally at all.

"Mean as a snake," she agreed. "I'm majoring in it at college."

"No, you're not. You're majoring in not-going-to-class." Maleficent sighed.

"Is this going to turn into another lecture?"

"You're taking cooking and a creative writing class," Emma said.

"A saint would be bored. I'm telling you, try something more challenging." Maleficent shrugged.

"But why not?" Emma asked.

"I don't get it. If you're smart enough to be as mean as a snake, then you're smart enough to do something with yourself."

"Like?"

"Like whatever you want," Emma said.

"It's wide open. Hell, you could play softball if you wanted." Maleficent blinked twice.

"Run out of excuses?" Emma asked her. Maleficent snorted.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that you're supposed to be nice to the poor orphan girl?"

"You have to earn nice." Maleficent narrowed her eyes, and Emma shrugged.

"It's true. You don't get an ass-pass just because you're feeling pity about yourself, no matter what you think. And to be honest, you don't seem all that self-pity woman." Maleficent sputtered at this.

"You're supposed to feel sorry for me. Everyone feels sorry for me. It's what they do."

"Listen," Emma said softly. "I hate that you went through that. It must have been hell. No one should ever have that happen to them." In fact, just thinking about it brought a punch of emotion that blocked Emma's windpipe, for Maleficent, for Regina. Emma physically ached for Regina and what she'd faced, and she had no idea how she'd managed to keep it all together. "But you lived," she reminded Maleficent softly.

"That's stupid. And pathetic."

"No, stupid and pathetic is not doing anything at all but bitching about not going to Europe, when really, if you wanted to go, you'd just go. I mean, as you keep saying, you're a grown-up." Maleficent let out a low, disbelieving laugh.

"I take it back. I don't like you better than the last few babysitters at all." Emma smiled sympathetically.

"They babied you, huh?" This got some spark.

"I don't need babying."

"No kidding!" That got a very small smile out of Maleficent, but a genuine one. Then her attention turned to the guy coming down the hall from her bedroom in nothing but boxers, yawning.

"She's gone, right?" Michael asked, his voice sleepy and thick.

"Your Sister?"

"Yep," Maleficent said.

"You fell asleep on me last night," Michael said. Maleficent let out a laugh that was so completely fake that Emma's eyes flew to her, and then to Michael. But Michael either missed that fact entirely or didn't care. He scratched his head, then his chest. If he scratched his ass next, Emma was going to throw up in her mouth a little bit.

"What do you want to do today?" Maleficent asked him, so clearly wanting him to get dressed and out of the house that Emma nearly shoved him out the door herself. She wanted to tell Maleficent to grow a set and kick his ass. But when Emma had been Maleficent's age, she'd have highly resented anyone telling her what to do. In fact, it would have made her do the opposite, so she bit her tongue, hard.

"Thought we'd go to Portland and hit some stores," Michael said.

"The new snowboards are in."

"Don't you have classes?" Emma asked Maleficent, trying to toss her a life preserver. But Maleficent didn't want one.

"Portland sounds great," she said.

"Cool," Michael said.

"But I don't have my wallet." Maleficent shrugged.

"No problem." Okay, that was it.

"You," Emma said, pointing at Michael.

"Out."

"What?" Emma opened the front door and gestured with a jerk of her chin.

"Dude," he said. "I'm not dressed."

"Dude, I don't care. Come back when you can pay your own way." Michael stalked stiffly out, and Emma shut the door on him. Actually, she slammed it. Maleficent's eyes narrowed.

"Is this your idea of helping me toe the line? Because it sucks."

"There's the line, and there's common sense. You figure out the difference, and we'll talk." Maleficent glared at her for a minute, then shrugged. "I'll need a ride to classes in an hour." "I'll be here." Emma watched Maleficent vanish down the hallway, then turned to the little pug demon puppy.

"So how do you feel about chocolate pancakes?"

"Arf!"


	13. Chapter 13

**Here is the new update!**

**First of all I want to Thank hunnyfresh for being my Beta Reader. Thank you so much! For taking time to read and correct my mistakes, I really really appreciate it**

**Secondly, I want to thank all the readers who are following my story and reviewing the chapters. It is great to hear. You guys have no idea how it puts a smile on my face on a bad day when I come back and read your comments. Writing this story is my guilty pleasure. I promise that I will update regularly. Thanks for being patience and hanging in there.**

**So please post your reviews. Even if they are to criticize about the chapter. I will take your points to make sure I correct the mistakes.**

**LOCISVU: Sorry the previous chapter of Emma & Regina's conversation confused you. I will re-upload the chapter again doing the corrections.**

**I don't own the characters or the show or storyline.**

**Chapter 13:**

For several days, Regina was up to her eyeballs in city hall work or with the patients at the clinic. By the end of the third day, she was practically swaying on her feet in exhaustion.

"We done?" she asked Kathryn, knowing she still had to face the mountain of paperwork on her desk.

"Anyone left to see?"

"No." Kathryn knocked on wood. "Don't jinx it or someone will come knocking. Run while you can."

"What about Mrs. Porter? Didn't I see her on the schedule earlier? Did look at her?"

"She was here, but she got tired of waiting. Said is cute, but not that cute, and she'd see him another day."

"What brought her in?" Regina asked.

"Headache. She said it was probably because she'd lost her glasses and would just get another pair from Wal-Mart later instead of bothering her."

Regina spent twenty minutes at her desk facing the tortuous pile of files. She called Maleficent, who informed her she couldn't babysit the rug rat because she had a date.

So Regina called Emma. "I hate to ask," she said, "but—"

"I've got her right here. I heard your call with Maleficent. We're just getting back."

"Back?"

"I took Maleficent and Henry to see a soccer game."

That surprised Regina. Maleficent had been a big soccer player before the accident. Ever since, it was as if she'd erased soccer from her vocabulary.

"Really?" It wasn't often she was rendered speechless. "She went willingly, or did you have to kidnap her at gunpoint?"

"She went willingly," Emma said, sounding amused. "And said she could have done better than half the girls on the field."

An odd emotion blossomed in Regina's chest. "I owe you," Regina said softly.

"Actually, at the moment, I _**owe**_ you." Surrounded by hell, Regina's life completely not her own, she found herself smiling for the first time in days.

"I'm open to a deal."

"Sounds promising, Madame Mayor. Talk to you later." Regina was still smiling when she headed into another gruesome budget meeting. The meeting was a little crazy, but that was the nature of the job. There was a purpose to all of it, to every orchestrated movement, and unlike everywhere else, here she thrived on chaos.

You thrive on the chaos that is Emma Swan as well… Emma might think she was winging life at the moment, but everything she did, everyone she helped along the way, everything she said or felt, came from the bottom of her heart. Regina loved that.

It was 1:00 a.m. before she left the Practice. She had a few hours to get home and sleep before the madness started again. She was halfway to her car when she got the call. Mrs. Porter had just come in, DOA. Regina ran back into the Practice, but of course, there was no rush. Not for the dead. She grabbed the chart. There'd be no official cause of death until the autopsy, but all signs pointed to an aneurysm. Regina stared down at Mrs. Porter's body in disbelief. The possibility of an aneurysm had never been on their practice radar. It was a silent killer.

Over the years, she'd probably spent a total of months talking to her. Regina knew Mrs. Porter liked her margaritas frozen, her music soft and jazzy, and was a secret office supply ho. She didn't have much family or any pets, she'd always said she was allergic to both, and she'd never missed a single episode of Amazing Race. She'd planned on someday being the oldest winner. Soon as she could get over her fear of flying. And now she was dead. It wasn't Regina's fault. Logically, she knew this, but she felt guilty as hell, and sick. Sick that she hadn't moved the practice patients along faster earlier in the day so that Mrs. Porter would have waited for Dr. Whale. Because if he'd seen her, maybe there'd have been signs, maybe he'd have somehow known that today was different, that she'd really needed medical care and not just a little TLC.

"I'm sorry," Regina said, touching her hand, tucking it under the blanket alongside her body. "So damned sorry." Only utter silence greeted her. Devastated her. She drove home in a fog and found Emma asleep on her living room couch. Emma sat up, sleepy, rumpled, an apologetic smile on her face.

"Didn't mean to fall asleep," she said. Regina helped her to her feet, then pulled her hands back from Emma's warm body and shoved them into her trench coat pockets, not trusting herself to touch her right now. She felt Emma's curiosity but managed to walk her to the guesthouse without a word.

"Regina?" Standing at her door, bathed in the moonlight, Emma touched her face.

"Bad night?" Her eyes were fathomless, and as always, Regina knew that if she looked into them for too long, she'd drown. But she was already drowning. Emma shifted closer and brushed her strong body against hers. Soft. Strong. Warm. Regina could bury herself in Emma's arms right now. But taking her grief out on Emma would be an asshole thing to do.

"I'm fine." Still numb, she waited until Emma went inside to go back to the house. Not to bed, though. No, that wasn't the kind of thing she planned to settle for. She went to the cabinet above the fridge for the Scotch, and then to the couch where Emma had fallen asleep waiting for her. It was still warm beneath the blanket from Emma's body heat. And it smelled like her. Regina inhaled deep and poured herself a few fingers. She'd lost track of the number of shots she'd drunk by the time someone knocked softly on the glass slider. When she didn't move, Emma let herself in. Regina wasn't drunk but she was close as she eyed her approach.

Emma was wearing a tank top and boxers. No shoes. Her hair was down. No makeup. Regina wanted to tear off Emma's clothes, toss her down to the couch, and feel the warm body against her and bury herself in the night of passion, so she couldn't feel anything else. Couldn't feel. She watched Emma cross the room, and some of her thoughts must have been obvious because Emma stopped just short of her reach and gave her a long, assessing look.

"Saw that the lights were on," Emma said.

"You can't sleep." Regina shrugged and tossed back another shot.

"I'm sorry about Mrs. Porter." Regina went still, swiveling only her gaze in Emma's direction.

"Since you were doing your impression of the typical dark, and annoyingly silent," Emma said, "I went to the source. Facebook." Emma paused.

"Mrs. Porter was very sweet. And I know she adored you. You're a good woman, Regina. A good person. Don't blame yourself for her death." Too late. "It wasn't your fault."

Maybe not. But plenty of other shit was her fault. Maleficent, still floundering in her new life. Henry thinking he had to be an Avenger warrior to warrant her other parent's return. Her dad's practice getting too big for its britches and losing the personal attention each patient deserved… And Emma— the last lethal shot to her mental stability that had come out of nowhere.

Emma stood there, her own personal, gorgeous goddess, running her world in her own way along with her huge heart. She looked so soft and beautiful in the ambient light. So… her.

Regina's heart revved at just the sight of her, so she closed her eyes and let her head fall back to the couch.

"You need to go."

"Can't." She didn't ask why not, but Emma told her anyway. "I think maybe that's the problem," Emma said softly, and Regina could feel Emma's leg brush her now. She was getting braver. "People go away in your life, don't they, Regina?" Emma asked. "You get left, abandoned, whether by choice or through no fault of anyone."

Regina heard more movement; then she tugged off one of her heels. Emma was kneeling at her side, a position that brought dark erotic thoughts to mind.

"I don't want to talk about it," Regina said.

"I know." Having gotten Regina's shoes off, Emma rose up on her knees.

"But you aren't okay. And I'm not leaving you." Regina stared at her, ashamed to feel her throat tighten.

"Emma. Just go."

"No." Emma lay her head down on her thigh and stroked her other with a gentle hand. "Tell me what to do to help you."

Emma could start by moving her mouth about two inches to the right. Regina didn't voice that. What she did do was take the shot glass dangling from her fingers and set it on the coffee table. Then she stood and pulled Emma up with her, hugging her. Regina's throat tightened beyond use as she buried her face in Emma's shoulder and held onto her hard.

"You're going to be okay," Emma whispered.

No. No, Regina wasn't. But rather than admit that, she took a deep breath. Regina didn't want her concern. Emma pulled back, and keeping a hold of Regina's hand, led her down the hall to Regina's bedroom. Bad idea. The worst sort of bad idea. Stop her… It wouldn't be difficult to free herself, but instead Regina followed along after Emma like a lost little puppy.

Emma turned off the lights, and darkness settled over them. Over her. In her. Regina was just about as on edge as it got. And she wanted Emma. Needed her. But she'd never been very good at asking. Not that Emma was making her ask… Emma pulled her into the bedroom, nudging the door shut with her foot.

"Come here."

"You're shaking," Regina said, wrapping her arms around Emma's trembling body. Emma's hands glided up Regina's neck to cup her face.

"Not me," Emma said very gently, eyes shadowed. "You. You're shaking."

Well, hell. Regina tried to pull back, but Emma gripped her tight and refused to budge.

"Regina—"

"I need to go—"

"Honey, this is your place." Her fingers slid into Regina's hair, gentle and soothing. Tender. So were Emma's eyes when Regina tilted her face up to Emma's to see it in the dim light.

"No one's going anywhere," Emma said. "You're already right where you need to be."

Then Emma locked the door and gave Regina a push that had her falling onto her bed. Shit, she was pretty fucking far gone if Emma could catch her off guard like that. Regina came up on her elbows, and there Emma stood in that tank top and boxers, looking like everything sweet and warm and caring. Too caring. Regina didn't want that. She wanted Emma naked and sweaty and screaming her name.

"I want to be alone," Regina said.

"You don't need to be alone tonight."

"You don't know what I need."

Emma stared into Regina's dark eyes which are as dark as night. "I think I have a pretty good idea." Emma lifted her tank top and threw it aside, and it hit the floor. "You sure you don't want to talk about it?"

Sitting up, Regina settled her hands on Emma's rib cage, fingers spread wide.

"It might help if you did," Emma said. Regina took in Emma's pretty white bra that gave her tantalizing view of nipples, which were already hard. They puckered up even tighter, and Regina's mouth watered.

"Regina?"

"Sorry. I haven't heard a word since you took off your top." Regina closed her eyes. "You shouldn't be here."

"Give me one good reason why not."

Regina didn't have any logic skills in that moment. None. She searched for words. "I'm temporarily unavailable."

"Incapacitated, maybe." With a hand to the center of Regina's shoulder, Emma pushed. She fell flat to the bed and stared up at the ceiling, which was twirling. And there was something else. Regina badly wanted to roll Emma beneath her and take her. Take her fast and dirty.

"You need to go, Emma."

"Yeah? And why's that?" Emma asked. "You might actually let your control slip? Or worse yet, an emotion?" Emma shook her head, a small smile curving her lips. "You've seen me reveal lots of emotions. Fear, sadness, anger… You've seen me totally out of my element and freaked out. You've seen me everything. So I think I can handle whatever you've got."

Regina blinked. Emma crawled onto the bed and then over her, letting her stomach brush over Regina's chest. Through her haze, Regina felt Emma's hands stroke her thighs. And then higher as Emma's fingers deftly unzipped and tugged enough to free her from her skirt.

"I'm not feeling gentle," Regina warned.

"I don't need gentle." Emma smiled at her. "Remind me sometime to show you my sexual fantasy list. It's quite comprehensive. In fact, you in scrubs put on. Being not gentle."

Regina groaned.

"We play doctor. And in a variation, I get to be the Mayor."

_Jesus. _

"Emma—"

"Shhh," she murmured, her warm breath brushing over Regina's hot center as Emma wriggled some more, right out of her boxers. At the feel of her bare legs entangled with Emma's, Regina groaned again.

"I have your attention?" Emma asked.

"You always have my attention."

"Good to know." As light and teasing as Emma's words were, she made a little movement that rubbed her thighs together, and it occurred to Regina that Emma was as turned on as she was.

Regina felt herself twitch at the thought.

"Emma—"

"No." Emma covered her mouth with a finger. "You just sit there and look pretty."

Regina's low laugh turned into a groan when Emma spread Regina's legs apart with her hands and let her lips slowly descend over her.

"Oh, Christ." Regina had to close her eyes after that, her hands fisted tightly in the bedding instead of in Emma's hair, because Emma was right— she wasn't at all sure she could control herself.

Two minutes in, Regina was drowning in pleasure and hot, desperate need.

"Emma—" Regina gasped, trying to warn her. Emma merely let out a hungry little murmur and going faster, humming her approval, and blowing her mind right along with her favorite body part.

Regina came fast and hard, and she figured she should be mortified— tomorrow. For now, all she could muster was a blissed-out exhaustion… When she woke several hours later to the alarm, she was all alone, leaving her to wonder— real or Memorex?

The next day came too early, and Emma cursed her alarm. It'd been two when she'd left Regina sprawled out spread-eagle on her bed, eyes rolled back in her head. She'd been pretty sure Regina was still been breathing. She must have been, because her car was already gone.

Emma drove into Portland for an interview at a second firm that had called late yesterday, and it went well. On her way back to Storybrooke, she got a phone call from Maleficent.

"Henry's school called. He fell into a mud puddle, and he needs a change of clothes."

"Okay," Emma said. "I'll be there in twenty."

When she got to the house, she went through Henry's dresser and pulled out a pair of pants. "Don't forget socks," Maleficent said from the doorway.

"Socks." She grabbed those too.

"And shoes. And a shirt. And a coat…" Emma looked at Maleficent. "Apparently, he's quite the mess."

Emma drove the change of clothes to the elementary school, and Maleficent had been right. Henry was a mess, but a happy one.

"I didn't need new clothes," he said, not quite so happy now that he had to change. Apparently little boys like to wear their mud like badges of honor. Emma handed him the clothes and gave his hair a tousle. Or tried. Her fingers caught on the mud in his hair.

"What, did you bathe in the stuff?" He grinned, and she shook her head.

"See you at the bus stop in a little while, handsome." She left the school and met Ruby and Mary for a late lunch at Granny's. Lunch was chocolate cupcakes with hot chocolate, of course.

"So sad about Mrs. Porter," Mary Margaret said.

"We're all taking it hard at the City Hall. Especially Regina." Her eyes cut to Emma.

"You hear from her?" Not since she'd left Regina panting on her bed. She shook her head and peeled her cupcake from its wrapper.

"She might need some TLC," Mary Margaret said.

"Whatever you do, don't call it TLC," Ruby said.

"That'll scare an alpha into next week. Just do her. That's all the TLC she'll need." Emma, who'd just taken an unfortunate bite of her cupcake, inhaled it up her nose. By the time she'd stopped coughing and swiped at her streaming eyes, both Mary Margaret and Ruby were waiting, brows up.

"Stop," Emma managed. "You guys read far too much into everything. Must be all that TLC you're both having. It's making you think everyone else is having it too."

"So you're saying that there's nothing going on with you and the Mayor?" Ruby asked. Well, hell. She couldn't exactly say that.

"I'm saying that this was supposed to be just fun. Not anything real. I'm interviewing for jobs that I'm actually trained to do, and—"

"That your family wants you to do," Mary Margaret reminded her. "Because if you ask me, life here in Storybrooke suits you pretty nicely."

"My parents mean well," Emma said. "They want me to succeed."

"Well of course," Mary Margaret said. "They love you. But I'm thinking success and happiness don't get along. Sometimes you have to sacrifice one for the other." Emma had strived hard for success all her life, wanting to live up to being a Swan. It meant a lot to her, but it'd also cost her. Until now she'd not managed to have any real relationships in her life, at least not long-lasting ones. They hadn't been important. But now she couldn't imagine her life without Mary Margaret and Ruby in it.

"Happiness should always win," Mary Margaret said quietly. Emma sighed. They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes.

"So on a scale of one to Natalie Portman," Ruby said to Emma, "how good is she?" Emma thought about hers and Regina's two extremely memorable… moments.

"It's not what you think." She paused. "But Regina is ten-point-five Natalie Portmans. No, make that eleven." This caused a moment of silent appreciation.

"She makes you happy," Mary Margaret said softly. Emma looked into her friend's warm eyes. Mary Margaret wanted the best for her. She also wanted the best for Regina. It was natural that her romantic heart would want the best for them, together.

"I've always been a little short on the happy," Emma admitted. "So it's hard to say. But it's what I said I wanted. Fun."

Mary Margaret's gaze never left Emma's as she squeezed her hand, and Emma knew what she was thinking. What they were all thinking. Yes, Emma had said she wanted only fun. But somehow, when she hadn't been looking, she'd begun to yearn for more. Far more. That she'd already set the parameters with Regina was her own fault, so fun it would be. And no more.

"You could do this the easy way and just tell her," Mary Margaret said.

"Tell her what?" Ruby wanted to know.

"That she's falling for her," Mary Margaret said.

Emma shook her head. She wasn't falling. She couldn't be falling. Because Regina had a very full life, and there wasn't room for her in it. And she was quite over trying to squeeze herself in where there wasn't room. She'd done that with her parents all her life. And every failed relationship. No more. Her heart wasn't strong enough to take it.

Ruby looked at Mary Margaret. "She's going down the same path I did, poor baby. The path of most resistance."

"I'm not taking any path," Emma said, feeling grumpy now as she reached for another cupcake. Her grumpiness hit a new level when both Ruby and Mary Margaret merely laughed at her.

"Is watching Henry as hard as you thought it would be?" Mary Margaret asked when she'd controlled herself. Trick question. Emma had honestly believed that taking care of Henry would be easier than watching after Tank. It hadn't been at all, but she couldn't remember ever enjoying a job more. Not sure what that meant. She lifted a shoulder.

"Little boys aren't all that different from big boys." Ruby grinned. "Now there's a lesson that should be taught to every female in kindergarten to save years of frustration and heartache." "You really don't think you're falling?" Mary Margaret asked Emma. She shook her head. Her life had always been about the bottom line, about numbers, about getting to the top. It'd never been about emotions, about heart and soul. About falling in love… She knew better than that.

"Regina isn't looking for that." Mary Margaret looked amused.

"I meant Henry."

Oh. Right.

"But good to know where you're at," Mary Margaret said.

Yeah. Good to know.

Emma's phone rang. A number she didn't recognize. "Emma Swan?" came an unfamiliar voice in her ear.

"Yes."

"This is Serena, the nurse at Storybrooke Elementary. Henry's not sick or hurt or anything." "Okay…"

"But he fell in a mud puddle again…"

Since there was only a half hour left of school, Emma just took Henry home with her. She buckled him into his booster seat and slid him a look in the rear-view mirror.

"Do I want to know?"

"Camel flaunting," he said very solemnly. "Me and Tommy needed to camel flaunt."

This baffled her for a beat; then she had to laugh. "Camouflage?"

"Yes," he said.

"For a battle."

"Yes!"

Emma had never really pictured herself with kids. She didn't know why, exactly. Maybe because she'd never been around them, or because she figured she'd be married to her career as her parents were. But in that moment, sharing a grin in the mirror with Henry, something deep inside her squeezed hard in yearning. They'd just walked in the front door and let Tank loose when Emma got a call from Maleficent.

"Need a ride," was all Maleficent said. Emma could hear something in the girl's voice. Tears? Whatever it was, Emma's stomach dropped. She knew that Maleficent was supposed to be at class, but she also knew that Michael was a weasel, and once Maleficent was in her car, she was pretty much at her mercy. Emma had tried talking to Maleficent about it twice since the other day, but Maleficent was good about avoiding talking. A definite Mills thing. Still, Emma couldn't get past the gut feeling that Michael was pushing for things Maleficent didn't want to give him.

"Where are you?" she asked.

Maleficent rattled off an address that was just outside of Storybrooke. It was an area that Emma knew from delivering flowers, and it was not an especially good neighborhood. She looked at Henry, who was swooshing her Hulk Figure and making Tank nuts.

"On my way." She disconnected.

"We're going for a ride, kid."

"Tank and I are in the middle of a battle."

"You can finish when we get back."

"A good Avenger never stops in the middle of a battle."

She hunkered down and looked him in the eye. "We have another battle to fight."

He looked excited. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Picking up your aunt."

His face fell. "Aw, that's no fun. And you promised we'd go to the park."

"Yes, but sometimes things happen."

"Not to Avengers. Bad things like not going to the park never happen to Avengers." Still holding his Hulk, he took off, his little feet pounding down the hallway. The next noise was the slam of his door.

Okay, so someone needed a nap. Though technically, that could apply to Emma as well. She followed him to his room and opened the door. She saw a little boy tush and a little pug tush, both adorable, sticking out from behind Henry's large beanbag chair. The classic "if I can't see you, you can't see me" pose.

"Henry? Tank?"

"Don't answer," came a little boy whisper, and then a muffled snort. A pug snort.

"Gee," she said.

"Wherever could the Avengers have gone?" Another pug snort. And then a giggle.

"What a shame I'm all alone," she said. "'Cause I'm really in need of a couple of Avengers, the very best of the best. There's an epic battle ahead. We have to save Aunt Maleficent."

The two tushes wriggled free, complete with warrior yells and lots of barking. Emma was just leading Henry outside when Regina pulled up. She got out of her car looking like the day had already been too long.

"Need my laptop," Regina said, eyes shadowed, face drawn. She made time to stop and crouch down to hug Henry before straightening and meeting Emma's eyes. Emma wanted to ask her if she was okay. Emma wanted to give her a hug like she'd given Henry. Emma wanted to have her beneath her again, shuddering, her name on her lips as she came. But mostly she wanted to ask Regina if there was any chance that she was feeling like this thing might be getting uncomfortably close to being a lot more than just fun.

"Hey," Emma said, and then rolled her eyes at how breathless she sounded.

"Hey," Regina replied. She'd been pretty far gone last night, both in alcohol and exhaustion, and Emma suddenly realized Regina might not even remember what had happened. Her dark gaze searched Regina's for a long beat, but she gave nothing away. Something else Regina was extremely good at.

"Where are you guys going?" Regina asked.

"Maleficent needs me to pick her up."

"Michael flake on her again?"

"I don't know. This is where she is." She showed her the address that scrawled onto a piece of paper. Regina frowned.

"That's nowhere close to her class." Regina looked at her watch. "My car. Let's go."

They drove in silence. Well, except for the noises Henry and his Zhu Zhu warriors were making in the backseat. Regina turned onto a run-down street, and they all eyeballed the apartment building. Weeds in the asphalt cracks, dead lawn, peeling paint, and bars on the windows of the lower floors. Nice.

Maleficent was in her shorts and bare foot waiting on the front walk. At the sight of Regina's car, she scowled, and then again when she got out to help her.

"I called Emma," she said unhappily. "Not you."

"Hello to you too." Regina stood in front of her, gaze narrowed. "You okay?" She reached out to touch her cheek where her mascara had run as if she'd been crying. Maleficent slapped Regina's hand away.

"I'm fine. Just get me out of here."

The drive home was tense, with Regina keeping an eye on a silent Maleficent, who was huddled in the backseat. Back at home, Maleficent ran into her room, slammed the door, and all went quiet.

Henry picked up his Hulk Figure. "Can we go to the park?"

"Not right now," Regina said.

"Swimming?"

"Not right now."

Henry tossed up his hands. "You don't let me do anything." And then he walked down the hall and slammed his bedroom door in a perfect imitation of Maleficent.

Regina looked like maybe she wanted to tear out her hair. She moved down the hall and knocked on Maleficent's door.

"Go away!" she yelled. Regina strode back into the living room, looking as if he needed a long vacation.

"You okay?" Emma asked her.

"I don't know." She lifted her head and pinned Emma with her gaze.

"Tell me about last night."

"What about it?" Regina asked carefully, not wanting to fess up to anything she couldn't remember. Regina looked at her for another long moment, during which Emma did her best to look innocent.

"You could start by showing me the rest of that sexual fantasy list," Regina said.

Okay, Emma thought with a blush, so Regina did remember. Gaze dark, Regina stepped toward her, but her phone went off. Regina swore, grabbed her laptop, and then strode to the door.

Emma let out a breath then sucked it in again when Regina turned back and lifted her head up so that they were nose to nose. "Now I owe you," Regina said softly, then brushed a kiss over Emma's mouth, and vanished.


	14. Chapter 14

**Here is the new update!**

**Thanks _hunnyfresh_ for being my Beta Reader. Thank you so much! For taking time to read and correct my mistakes, I really really appreciate it**

**I don't own the characters or the show or storyline.**

* * *

**Chapter 14:**

It was a long day. At the office, every person Regina saw wanted to talk about Mrs. Porter. They were devastated. Her staff was devastated. By the time she got home, she was more done in than she'd been last night, and that was saying something. She'd called ahead. Henry was asleep. Maleficent was heading out as soon as she got home. She could have done whatever she wanted with the evening, but there was only one thing she wanted to do. Emma.

The lights in the guesthouse were blazing. Through the windows, she could see Emma sitting on the couch, but Emma wasn't alone. She was with Mary Margaret and Ruby, talking and laughing. In front of them on the coffee table was an opened file box, and papers were scattered across the entire table, bookended by an open laptop and an adding machine.

It was a visceral reminder that Emma had a whole other life outside of her. Emma had taken on two more clients, which she'd heard from Kathryn, who'd heard it from Lucille, who'd heard it from Jefferson Hatter at the hats store, since he was one of those clients. The other new client was the ice-cream shop on the pier and the two brothers who ran it. Lance and Tucker probably had no bookkeeping system at all, so Emma had her work cut out for her— not that it would be a problem.

She seemed to have a way of getting to it all, making everything all work out. Regina admired that. Emma was just a sweet, smart, hard-working woman doing her best to find herself. No complaining, no feeling sorry for herself, doing what she had to do to get by. She had her hair pulled up in a ponytail, but a few pale silk strands had escaped, framing her face, brushing her throat and shoulders. Just looking at her had Regina's body humming. And though Emma couldn't possibly see her standing in the dark night, she went still, then turned her head, and peered outside, unerringly looking right at Regina.

She said something to Mary Margaret and Ruby, then rose in one fluid motion and stepped outside, shutting the door behind her. They met in the shadows near the shallow end of the pool.

"Hey," she said, looking like a vision in a loose white top that fell off one shoulder and white shorts showing a mile or two of sexy leg.

"Hey yourself," Regina said. "How did your day go?"

"Well, I didn't kill Tank, Henry continues to master the English language, and Maleficent didn't run off today. Progress."

"Great, but I meant you. How are you?" Emma looked surprised, which Regina didn't like. "You think I don't want to hear about you too?" Regina asked.

Emma nibbled on her lower lip.

"Emma?"

"This thing between us… it's still just fun, right?"

Regina studied her a moment. "How does that translate into me not caring about you?"

Emma blew out a breath and looked away. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm not very good at this. I don't mix well with a woman like you."

"A woman like me," Regina said, trying to figure out what that meant.

"Look, it's all me, okay? I knew going into this thing that it couldn't possibly work, but I just kept…" Emma broke off and looked away. "I'm sorry."

"A woman like me," Regina repeated again. "Emma, I'm trying like hell to follow you but…"

Emma looked at her and blinked, as if she didn't understand how Regina wasn't catching the obvious.

"We're so different," Emma said. "You've got your life in gear, all planned out. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm trying to know but…" Emma trailed off and looked at Regina again, as if expecting Regina to nod in agreement. But Regina was still clueless.

"If you think my life is working on some plan that I've set out," Regina said, "you haven't been paying attention. Nothing is how I planned it. And as for mixing well, I think we mix pretty fucking well."

"Yes, but isn't that just sex?"

"Not yet," Regina said with grim amusement. "But not for lack of chemistry. And there's no 'just sex' about it."

Emma stared at Regina, apparently speechless. There weren't crickets out tonight, but if there had been, they'd be chirping Beethoven about now. That's when it came to Regina like a smack upside the back of the head.

"Who was the guy?" Regina asked.

"Guy?"

"The one who screwed you over, the one with some big, grand plan, I'm guessing. A plan that didn't work out in your favor. Was he a doctor?"

Emma drew an audible breath to speak and then shook her head. "That obvious?"

"No," Regina said. "Or I'd have caught on a lot sooner. And you'd think I would have since I was once burned by a big, grand plan too."

She sighed. "Neal Cassidy."

"Sounds like a dick already."

Emma choked out a laugh that spoke more of remembered misery than humor. "He's a friend of the family. His parents are well-known and respected biomedical engineers, on the pioneer front of cardiovascular research."

"Never heard of them."

"We always knew we'd end up together," Emma said. "It was sort of expected, actually."

"Expected? Didn't anyone realize it's the twenty-first century?"

"It wasn't like that," Emma said quietly.

"I liked Neal."

And then Regina really got it. Christ, she was slow on the uptake. "You loved him."

"Yes." Emma let out a shaky breath. "I did. I loved him until the day after our engagement, when he came home and told me to pack because we were moving to England for his job, which was a six-year study grant. It was a great opportunity, but…"

"You didn't like being told what your life would look like for the next six years," Regina guessed.

Emma shook her head. "And you know what the really sad thing was? If he'd so much as asked, or even gave a thought to me and my job, I'd have junked it all to go with him."

"So what happened?"

"He left the next day," she said. "And shortly after, my job vanished when the economy dived."

"You could have looked him up," Regina said. "Gone to him then."

"Thought about it," Emma admitted. "But by then I was seeing someone else."

"Another PhD?"

"Yes, but a bank woman this time," she said. "Kathy Cameron. She lost her job the same day I lost mine, only she'd invested in property instead of stocks. She had a house in Australia. She went there to go surf out the economy problems."

"She ask you to go with?"

"Nope." Emma shook her head. "This time, I wasn't in the plans at all."

Regina was starting to get the whole picture now, and she didn't like it much. "So your parents had big life plans for you. Neal had big life plans for you. Kathy just had big plans. And no one ever asked you your plans."

"No," Emma said softly. "And I realize I didn't actually have my own plans, but I'd have liked to be asked."

Regina nodded. She could understand that.

"So I'm just saying, you don't have to feel a responsibility to me just because we… sort of had sex." Emma let out a low laugh that was far more natural now.

"Twice. I'm still okay with this being…"

"Fun." Emma's gaze met Regina's, clear and utterly unfathomable.

"Yes."

"You think I'd feel a responsibility to you because of good sex," Regina said slowly.

"Well, it was better than good," Emma said.

"But yes. I think you're exactly the type to feel a responsibility for those who cross your path. You're a rescuer."

Okay, so now on top of assuming Regina only wanted Emma out of some sense of responsibility, Emma also lumped Regina into the same category with all the other mistakes she felt she'd made. And hell if that didn't piss Regina off. Emma didn't want Regina to care. Regina got that, loud and clear. Regina didn't want to care either. But she did.

"Look, Emma, no matter what you call this thing between us— fun, a pain in the ass, nothing at all— it doesn't matter. Just don't judge me by the assholes in your past. I deserve more than that, but more importantly, you deserve more than that."

Emma stared at her, then slowly nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry."

Emma turned back to the guesthouse, and Regina grimaced. "Emma—"

"Henry lost a tooth tonight," Emma said quietly over her shoulder. "He was excited and tried to wait up for the Tooth Fairy, but he didn't make it. She arrived the minute after he'd conked out."

Regina slid her hand into her pocket. "Thanks. How much—"

"You're paying me a thousand bucks a week." She faced Regina again. "I think I can cover it. I can cover a lot of stuff, actually. Except at the end of the day, I'm still just the babysitter. And he's still just an adorable five-year-old. Who also deserves better." With that last zinger, Emma let herself into the guesthouse and shut the door quietly.

Regina stood there for a moment, then nodded. Point for each, which meant it was a draw. Which didn't explain why Regina felt Emma would lanced him alive. Inside Regina found Henry deeply asleep, wrapped around both Tank and the Hulk. The Bernstein Bears book was there, too, with the mama bear front and prominent.

Regina ignored the pain in her chest, the one that said she was still failing the people in her life, and gently pulled the Hulk from Henry's slack grip. Next, she eyed the dog. Tank opened one eye and gave a look that said, _Don't even try, lady_. Regina gave up and covered them both. Tank licked her hand. Regina bent over Henry and kissed his temple. Her son smelled like peanut butter and soap, which she took as a good sign. So was the way the kid smiled in his sleep. A smile with a gaping hole in the front.

"Love you," Regina whispered, the words a heavy weight on her chest. Henry rolled away, pulling Tank under one arm and the Bernstein Bears book under the other, sighing softly in his sleep.

"Arf," he whispered.

The next morning, Emma climbed back onto the modeling pedestal in Lucille's gallery. Today she was artfully draped in a sheet, supposedly like a Grecian goddess, though she suspected she looked more like she was going to a toga party.

"I wouldn't mind being twenty years younger, like you, Emma," Mrs. Gregory said conversationally. "Back to when my boobs were as good as yours."

"You mean fifty years," Lucille murmured.

"It's just that I'm tired of hoisting my boobs into a bra every morning." Mrs. Gregory pointed to Emma's breasts. "You don't have to hoist anything. Those babies are standing up on their own."

"That's because it's cold in here," Emma said in her own defense. She was counting down the last twenty minutes of class as she held her pose. After this, she was picking up Maleficent from class, and then she had a few more calls to return to applying nannies. She was determined to find the best possible person for Henry. And Tank. And Maleficent, even though the twenty-one-year-old would deny needing anything from anyone. And Regina…

Emma could admit that she also wanted the best possible person to take care of Regina. Which was silly. Very silly. Obviously, the woman was more than capable of taking care of herself, not to mention everyone around her. She'd proven that managing more than the average human should ever have to between the practice, the town, Henry, Maleficent… the loss of her parents. Sure, she was very used to taking care of people, and it was an extremely appealing part of the woman. But maybe she just needed to know it was okay to be on the other side of the fence occasionally.

"Time," Lucille called out to her students, and Emma relaxed. She jumped down off the pedestal and dropped the sheet, revealing the tank top, jeans she wore beneath. Grabbing her cardigan and purse, she headed to the door.

"Gotta go."

"Hold on, dear," Lucille said, and handed her a check and a bottle of wine.

"Oh," Emma said. "Thank you, but I'm not much of a drinker—"

"Check out the label." It was a color pencil sketch of the Storybrooke pier at night, lit up with strings of white lights that glowed out over the water beneath a full moon. Emma had seen the original. The Chocoholics had celebrated Ruby's sale of the drawing to the winery a month ago. When she recognized it, pride filled her.

"It's beautiful," Emma said.

"Keep it," Lucille told her. "Maybe you'll have use for it on a date over a nice romantic dinner with the Mayor."

"We're not dating—" She broke off at Lucille's smile and shook her head. "Listen, I know you're like the gossip guru in town, but there's no gossip here."

Lucille smiled. "Are you sure?"

"Very," Emma said firmly, ignoring the little ping inside her. Maybe if she'd stop giving Regina reasons not to fall for her… "I'm just watching Henry and Tank. Helping Regina out, is all."

"Regina, is it now?"

"Yes, that's her name."

"Actually, honey," Lucille said, "We all call her Madame Mayor or Mayor Mills. Well, unless she's not within hearing distance, and then we call her Mayor Hottie. And none of us get to live with her."

"I'm just the babysitter," Emma said. "I stay there because of the crazy hours she keeps. It makes things easier on her. And I'm in the guesthouse, not the main house, and only until we find her a replacement. There's no dating going on."

Everyone's ears perked up at this.

"I could take on one more kid," Jenna Burnett said. "For Mayor Hottie, I'd take on quadruplets."

Jenna was a single mom in her mid-forties, running a day care out of her home. Her three children were teenagers and helped when they got home from school. Jenna was sweet and kind, and probably a viable option for Henry.

"Ask her," Jenna said, seeing that Emma was actually thinking about it.

"Tell her I'll give her a great deal." She smiled warmly, but damn, there was definitely something just a little bit hungry behind it.

"Hey, I want to throw my name into the hat too." This from Ashley. Ashley owned an upscale clothing shop in Portland that she paid someone else to manage.

Then she hightailed it out of there. She got to Maleficent's class just in time to see the girl roar off in Devon's truck, flashing a peace sign at Emma. Emma gritted her teeth and drove to the house, where she waited for the bus. When Henry hopped off it, he was bouncing up and down with excitement. It was Back-to-School night, and later Regina would get to see Henry receive the Student of the Week award.

Afterward, Regina had promised him an ice-cream sundae, and then Henry was having his first sleepover at a friend's. He was so excited he could hardly contain himself. He and Emma walked the half block home, where from hard-earned knowledge, Emma let Tank and Henry run wild laps around the yard until they expelled enough energy in tandem that Henry could sit and do his homework.

While he did that, Emma worked on Tank's so-called obedience. This was more an exercise in patience for Emma than anything else, but she was determined. They had mac and cheese and turkey hot dogs for an early dinner— no deviating from the planned menu— and then waited for Regina to show up to take Henry to Back to School night. Except Regina didn't show.

Emma called Regina but got no answer. She called Maleficent. No answer there either. Finally, she drove Henry to his elementary school herself, pretty much steamed at everyone with the last name of Mills except for Henry. Henry's teacher was thrilled to see him.

"Sadie had her kittens, Henry. Want to go look?" When Henry whooped and raced off, Emma looked at the teacher.

"How much time before the awards?"

"At least half an hour."

"Can I leave him here while I go get his mother?" Emma asked.

"Mayor Mills?"

"Yes. I'm sure she just got hung up at the office…" One of the moms sidled close. A tall, perfectly-put-together, gorgeous brunette.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing. Angela Harrison," she said, introducing herself.

"I'll be happy to keep an eye on Henry while you go get Mayor Mills." She smiled a sort of tiger smile. "And if you could let him know that I'm the one watching Henry for you, that'd be great. I'd like to apply for the position."

"The nanny position?" Emma asked.

"Any position."

Emma shook her head all the way to her car. Regina's office was in the City Hall. She tore into the lot, stomped up to her suite, and yanked open the door. Righteous anger was blooming within her, propelling her forward, ready to tear Regina a new one for missing something so important to Henry. And something else was blooming too. Worry. This was unlike Regina, very much so.

Regina never blew off anything that anyone needed, but especially Henry. Her son came first with him. Family always came first. So this bothered her. She hadn't expected to feel worry for the woman who appeared to have it all. Hell, she hadn't meant to feel anything for Regina at all, but she did.

Far too much. The waiting room was empty, the front office lit but also empty. And her worry amped up a notch.

"Regina?" she called, walking down the hallway. She came to a large office decorated in dark wood, the huge mahogany desk loaded with paperwork and files. The lamp was lit. There was a mug of something on the corner and an open laptop in the middle. Behind the desk was a large executive chair. In it was one Mayor Regina Mills, leaning back, feet up. Fast asleep.

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	15. Chapter 15

**Thank you_ hunnyfresh_ for being my Beta Reader. You are a sweetheart.**

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**Chapter 15:**

Regina hated falling asleep in her office chair. It never failed to give her a kink in her neck and make her grumpy as hell, so when she leaned back and let her eyes drift shut, she told herself she was merely resting her eyelids.

"Regina?"

Her voice, Emma's voice, came to her on a breath of air, and she relaxed into the leather chair.

"_I have an urgent case for you, Mayor Mills." Emma stood in her office doorway in a sheriff's uniform. Looking holy-shit-hot, Emma sauntered into her office and slid between her legs, leaning over her in the chair, blocking her in with her body. Her hands went to Emma's hips to pull her in even closer, needing her so badly she was shaking but she refused to rush. If this was all they were going to have, this erotic dream, then she wanted it to last. She kissed Emma's neck then traced her tongue over the spot, eliciting the sweetest, most sensuous sigh she'd ever heard. This fueled a bone-deep desire to mark Emma as hers, and she sucked the patch of skin into her mouth. _

"_Regina…" _

_No. No talking, or she'd wake up. She kissed the spot, slipping her hands beneath the hem of Emma's uniform, and groaned. _

_No panties. _

_God, she was a goner… _

"_Regina."_

She grabbed Emma's wrist and tugged so that Emma fell into her lap with a gasp that had her opening her eyes.

No sheriff's uniform.

Damn.

It really was just a dream…

"Sorry," Emma said, wriggling, trying to free herself.

"I didn't mean to startle you awake. You were really out." After her parents' death and Henry's birth Regina had learned how to sleep light and wake up fast, but apparently she'd forgotten the art of both.

Then again, certain parts of her were very awake, getting more so by the second thanks to the squirming Emma was doing. She wore another of her tank tops and skinny jeans and she decided to help it along, sliding a hand into the hem of the jeans, removing the button of the material as she went.

"What are you doing?" Emma asked, nice and breathless.

"To see if your panties are black," he said. "Want to see if they are matching with your tank top."

"No they are not black." Emma said.

Aw, now see, that was just a challenge, and she'd never been able to resist a challenge. Her fingers tangled with Emma's, trying to work the hem while Emma rocked around some more creating an amazing friction and Regina was pretty sure that by now her panties are ruined.

"I was dreaming about you. You were modeling for me."

"In the bikini T-shirt?" Emma asked.

"Try again."

Emma met her gaze and blushed gorgeously at whatever she saw on her face. "I…"

"Go ahead, guess," she said. "It's from your sexual fantasy list."

The air crackled around them.

"And not that I'm not completely enjoying this lap dance of yours," Regina said, "but what are you doing here and where's Henry?"

Emma looked at her as if maybe she wasn't as awake as she'd thought. "You're late for Back to School night. You weren't answering your cell. I came to check on you."

"Ah, shit."

Regina stood up and let Emma slide down her body, but not before she caught a quick flash of red. She loved red. But Henry was waiting, and Regina had indeed known about tonight.

Damn, she couldn't believe she'd fallen asleep like that. Or maybe after eighty hours at the job this week so far, she could believe it.

Regina shut her laptop, grabbed her keys and her purse, and keeping her fingers wrapped around Emma's wrist, began to tug her to the door.

But then she stopped and looked up into Emma's concerned face. She'd come to get her because Emma cared about Henry.

_And because Emma cared about her too? _

Regina thought maybe Emma was getting there. More than she planned to, and that did something to Regina. People had cared about her before, of course.

Henry loved her, unconditionally. Her town people and practice patients liked her. David, Graham… her staff. Hell, even her sister, though she wouldn't bet against the house on that one. But how often could she say that any of those people had put her first?

"Regina?" Emma murmured. "You okay?"

"I will be." Letting go of Emma, she moved back to her desk, opening her laptop again. She didn't have to bring up the hospital's contract offer; it'd been up for weeks. Months. Her dad no longer needed her, but Henry did. Maleficent did. And Regina needed to do what was right for her too.

She'd loved her dad, loved the memory of her dad right here in this office, helping people. But it was no longer as relevant as making her own life work.

Regina scrolled to the end, electronically signed on the bottom line, and hit SEND.

_Done. Carrot bitten. Hell, carrot swallowed. _

Just like that— though there were no trumpets, no fat ladies singing— Regina's life was irrevocably changed.

She moved back to Emma at the door who was staring at her very solemnly.

"What did I just miss?" Emma asked.

Regina didn't really have words. She felt a little off her center of gravity, like she was standing at the edge of a cliff with one foot in the air already. It was a new feeling for her.

"Nothing yet," she said, and because Emma was standing so close, looking so cute and yet utterly, effortlessly sexy, she backed Emma to the door. "Regina," Emma said.

Just that, just her name as Emma's hands went to her hips. Not to push her away, she noticed with some satisfaction. Though Emma wasn't exactly sold on this, on them, not yet.

Not even close.

But the way Emma's pulse beat at the base of her throat told Regina the move had excited her.

"You feel warm," Emma said, and gave her a worried frown.

She pressed into Emma a little. Yeah, she was feeling warm. She was starting to feel a bunch of things. "Don't worry, it's not contagious."

Emma's brow creased more tightly in that adorable expression of concern. "You're sick?"

"Probably." She slid a hand down Emma's back to her very nice ass and rocked herself into Emma. "Definitely."

Emma blinked, then caught onto her light, teasing tone. Emma relaxed, letting out a little sigh that went straight through her.

"You poor woman. All work and no play." Emma said.

Yeah. But that was going to change. Or so Regina hoped.

Too bad that by the time it did, Emma would probably be long gone, having taken a job and a life that suited Emma far more than hers.

Leaning in, she kissed Emma, soft and light, then pulled back.

"Let's go get Henry."

They made it to the school in time to see Henry get his Student of the Week award. Emma watched Henry beam with happiness at his mother's presence and felt her heart clutch. Regina's expression was much more subdued but no less genuine, and Emma's heart kicked again.

* * *

After, Emma left to give them some alone time, heading to the diner to meet Ruby and Mary Margaret. Granny, the diner's owner, stopped her at the door. Granny was short and round. She wasn't big on customer service, rarely speaking to her customers unless it was to yell at them to pipe down because American Idol was on the TV.

"Got something for you," she said.

This took Emma by surprise. In all the time she'd known Granny, the woman had never spoken directly to her.

Granny held out a memory stick.

"What's this?" Emma asked.

"My laptop died. This is my backup bookkeeping. I need you to get on it ASAP. I'm a little behind."

"Okay…"

Granny was looking impatient to be back in front of her TV. "You're a number cruncher, yes?"

"Well, actually," Emma said, "I'm in Cop Business—"

"You're doing Ruby's books," Granny said.

"Yes, because she's my friend."

"And Lance's and Tucker's. And Jefferson's. And Belle's."

Yeah, okay, so she'd gotten conned into doing a lot of bookkeeping. She was good at it. And as it turned out, she also liked it. She liked the way numbers balanced at the end of the day, how she didn't have to take her work home with her to stress about at night.

"These are all one-time things," she said to Granny. "Really. I'm just sort of setting them up."

"I'll pay you," Granny said. "And also give you free food. As much as you can eat."

Emma had her mouth open to refuse but she closed it, inexcusably drawn in by this. "As much as I want?"

"As much as your skinny ass can take," Granny said, waving the memory stick enticingly.

Emma sighed and took it. Skinny? Not even close. "How long ago did your laptop die?"

"A month."

Great… She made her way to the back booth.

"Sucker," a waiting Mary Margaret said.

Ruby came out from the kitchen, making a big deal about setting the tray of hot chocolate and cupcakes down just right, twisting the tray and nearly blinding Emma and Mary Margaret with…

"Oh my God," Mary Margaret said, and screamed.

Emma put her fingers in her ears but grinned wide. Ruby was wearing a rock on her ring finger. Mary Margaret jumped up and down and screamed some more, and then wore herself out and sank into the booth for some hot chocolate.

"I actually don't even need chocolate," Ruby said, staring at her ring in dazed marvel. "Never thought I'd say that."

Mary Margaret laughed and took a second cupcake. "I'll eat it for you."

"I'm getting married," Ruby said softly. She looked up at the two of them, her eyes shiny. "Can you believe it?"

Emma knew that Ruby hadn't had much luck in love before. But Graham, a very sexy sheriff and all-around great guy, had changed that for her. Mary Margaret's life was changing too. Everyone's life was changing. Except for Emma's.

Mary Margaret squeezed her hand, making her realize she'd gone quiet. "You okay?"

"Oh, I'm good, and very happy for both of you." And she meant that, from the bottom of her heart. "I love how you've both figured out what was missing in your lives and went out and got it for yourselves."

"You know that what was missing wasn't a man, right?" Ruby asked. "Because I didn't need a man to make me whole. I just needed to open myself up to new experiences. The man part sort of fell in my lap."

Mary Margaret grinned. "Ditto."

"Well, thankfully, I don't need a man to make me whole," Emma said. "But there's a definite woman shortage in my life."

"Liar," Ruby said.

"Hey," Emma said. "I'm just her dog walker and part-time nanny. It's temporary. Very temporary."

Ruby turned to Mary Margaret. "Time for the big guns."

Mary Margaret pulled out her phone, thumbed to Storybrooke's Facebook page, and showed it to Emma. The latest entry read:

_Ladies, our favorite Mayor, Regina Mills, is actively seeking a new nanny. Many have applied, and all have been turned down by her interim nanny, Emma Swan._

_Is she just being extraordinarily careful? _

_Or is she saving the position for herself? _

_A picture is worth a thousand words… _

Accompanying this was indeed a picture, taken from inside the elementary school's kindergarten classroom. Henry was up on the makeshift stage, accepting his award. The class was full of proud, smiling parents, and in the back of the room stood Emma, beaming at the stage, a flush on her cheeks. That wasn't the most damning part. Nope, that honor went to Regina, standing just behind her, Regina's arms around her, Emma's shoulders much broader than Regina's, Regina's jaw pressed to her shoulder as Emma also looked toward the stage. There was something about the stance, the body language, the way the air practically shimmered between them. Not that there was any air between them. Regina was so tight to her that a sheet of paper wouldn't have fit.

"Well that's just…" Emma trailed off.

Sexy.

Hot.

In fact, she was getting a hot flash right now.

"Standing a little close, aren't you, for nanny and the professor?" Ruby asked dryly.

"Mayor," Emma said absently. "She's a Mayor." Emma shook her head. "This picture couldn't have been taken even an hour ago." And that wasn't all. She looked happy in that picture.

"The good stuff travels fast in Storybrooke," Ruby said. "You know that."

"And that's not the only fast thing," Mary Margaret said. "You guys have moved pretty fast."

"Says the woman who slept with her fiancé on the first night she met him," Ruby said dryly.

"Second night," Mary Margaret said primly.

"This picture was taken out of context," Emma complained. "Completely." "Of course," Mary Margaret agreed, nodding. Then she shook her head. "Um, so how do you take a picture out of context?" Ruby snorted.

"The classroom was packed," Emma said. "Standing room only. We were forced to be so squished."

"Interesting how her arms look quite comfortable around Emma," Mary Margaret noted to Ruby.

"And notice the post-coital look about her," Ruby offered back.

Emma bit her lower lip and stared at the picture. She did seem to have a certain orgasmic glow.

Jeez, how long did such a thing last anyway? Regina didn't have the glow. Even though technically she'd been the last one to, um, have an orgasm, Regina was looking a little edgy, a little rough and tumble. Like maybe she needed another reason to glow. Emma bit her lip harder at the thought. "We haven't been together. Not exactly."

"Not exactly?" Ruby asked, brows up. "Is that what you kids call it these days?"

Mary Margaret cracked up at this, and Emma sighed.

"It's more like coitus interruptus. Twice. Once because she was called into work and another because she fell asleep."

Ruby grinned. "Anyone ever tell you you're supposed to keep them awake for the good stuff?"

Mary Margaret was smiling but her question was serious. "So are you two going to be a real thing, then, not just a fun thing?"

Something clenched deep inside Emma at the thought, but she couldn't decide if it was a good clench or a bad one.

Liar, liar…

"I've run the numbers," Emma said. "It wouldn't work. First of all, she's a politician. She gets a lot of points taken off for that."

"People usually add points for politicians," Mary Margaret said.

"Not me," Emma said. "I was raised by a few of them, remember? Trust me, they don't make good relationship material."

Mary Margaret squeezed her hand. "Honey, Regina isn't like your family. She's warm and loving."

"Not to mention hot as hell," Ruby added.

Emma shook her head. "Sorry, the points are already deducted. And taking into account her schedule, and then the standard deviation from the average woman's schedule, I figure ninety percent of her time would go elsewhere. I'd never get uninterrupted coitus."

"Vagina math," Ruby said. "Impressive."

She looked at Mary Margaret. "See, this is why a girl shouldn't date an accountant."

"I'm not an accountant," Emma corrected. "I'm a floral-delivery-girl-slash-model-slash-babysitter. "

"Slash Mayor's sort-of girlfriend?" Ruby asked. Both she and Mary Margaret cracked up.

Emma grabbed a cupcake, stood, and headed to the door.

"Aw," Ruby called after her. "At least grab a second one for Regina. Chocolate is the next best thing to sex…"

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